Russian troops captured about 110 square kilometres of territory in eastern Ukraine on 12–13 August, the largest single-day advance recorded in more than a year, according to an AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War data. Moscow’s defence ministry said its forces seized the villages of Nykanorivka and Suvorove south-west of the garrison town of Dobropillia, deepening their push in the Donetsk region, where roughly 70 percent of Russia’s territorial gains this year have occurred. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russian units had penetrated as much as 10 kilometres on some sectors of the front and pledged to “destroy” the incursion. Kyiv dispatched reserve formations and ordered the mandatory evacuation of families with children from Bilozerske and several nearby settlements. Ukraine’s military said it was facing intense assaults aimed at encircling Dobropillia and threatening the strategic hubs of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Analysts estimate Russia now exercises full or partial control over about 19 percent of Ukraine’s pre-war territory. The battlefield surge comes two days before U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Alaska on 15 August for the first U.S.–Russia summit since 2021. European leaders, who plan a joint call with Trump ahead of the meeting, fear the territorial shift could strengthen Moscow’s leverage at the negotiating table and pressure Kyiv to concede land. Zelensky and EU officials insist any peace deal must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and be negotiated with Kyiv’s participation.