Russia and Ukraine: Will the Gates of Hell Lead to the Negotiating Table?
At least five people were killed in a Russian strike targeting a shopping center in eastern Ukraine, while one person was killed in Belgorod, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone strike.
For several months, the war between Russia and Ukraine has seen a marked escalation in long-range strikes, which are increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure, including factories, refineries, warehouses and port facilities, as well as ships.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said on Telegram: “The Russians struck a shopping center in the heart of the city of Pavlohrad in broad daylight, when the streets were crowded.”
The regional governor, Oleksandr Hanja, reported that the death toll had risen to five, with 67 others injured, including eight children.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said: “These are tactics of coercion. Russia believes that relentless attacks on civilians will exhaust the Ukrainian people and force Ukraine to make concessions.”
In Russia, emergency services reported one death and six injuries in the city of Novy Oskol, in the border region of Belgorod, following a Ukrainian drone strike.
These attacks are resulting in an increasing number of civilian casualties.
“The Gates of Hell”
At the beginning of last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, in remarks published on Saturday, that Ukraine had opened the gates of hell upon itself in response to Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian economic facilities.
Putin explained at the time: “The Kyiv regime is seeking to harm our economy. What did it do? It opened the gates of hell upon itself. Well then, expect a response targeting the most sensitive sectors of your economy.”
The Russian response was not long in coming. Moscow intensified its strikes on sensitive Ukrainian sites, targeting warehouses and shopping centers and increasing pressure on the home front in the former Soviet country.
Yet, apparently, the Russian gates of hell could ultimately lead to the negotiating table in an effort to end a war that is heading toward its fifth year.
A Three-Way Table
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week, according to remarks reported by the U.S. website Axios, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had indicated to Washington that he was prepared to begin negotiations on de-escalation this winter, potentially leading both sides to suspend strikes against strategic sites.
Zelensky added that he was counting on talks between Moscow, Kyiv and Washington to resume during September, in an effort to find a way out of the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin, for its part, said that it “does not rule out” the resumption of trilateral talks, but considered it “still too early to discuss a specific location and dates.”
On Thursday, a day after the Kremlin announced that the U.S. and Russian presidents had discussed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine during a one-hour phone call, Donald Trump said that Putin wanted to reach a deal to end the war against Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “He wants to make a deal, and if [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky wants to make a deal, that would be very good,” adding: “I know deals, and these two people are tired of fighting.”
Last week, Putin received envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner before they traveled to Kyiv for an unprecedented visit during which they met with Zelensky.
Trump spoke by phone with Putin on Tuesday, shortly after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner returned from a diplomatic tour that included Moscow and Kyiv. The two men, who have been tasked with handling most of the United States’ major peace negotiations, discussed possible proposals to end the war.
The Kremlin announced earlier on Wednesday that Moscow hoped to resume U.S.-mediated talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine in the near future.
