This is a critical moment for Ukraine on two fronts as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday he plans, in just a few weeks, to present to President Joe Biden as well as the two presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, his plan for victory.
He hopes the coming days could send clear signals to Ukraine's allies.
After Ukraine's surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia, the thought was Putin would redeploy his most battle-ready troops to stem the embarrassment of the yellow-and-blue flag flying on Russian soil.
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But, as Zelenskyy acknowledged on Tuesday, Putin is pressing on in the Donbas region, prioritizing Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistical node. Its loss would be monumental, raising the risk of Russian advances toward major cities like Dnipro and Zaphorizhia. The Russians are closing in on them. shifting the front line to less than 10 miles from Porkovsk, which had a pre-war population of 60,000 people.
Meanwhile in Ukraine's Kursk incursion, Ukraine's military believes Putin is now deploying 30,000 troops to the area.
The fighting is now uncomfortably close to one of Russia's largest nuclear power plants. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency raced to inspect the facility just 62 miles from Ukraine's border. His comments there were anything but reassuring.
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"The core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof," said Rafael Grossi, International Atomic Energy Agency director general. "This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to artillery impact or a drone or a missile."
Ukrainian forces are just 25 miles away from the nuclear power plant, which is still in operation.