Thus far in August, the intensity of Russian strikes on Ukraine appear to have eased. The first 11 days of this month have seen Moscow launch a daily average of 74 drones and one missile into Ukraine, compared with record-breaking July figures of 201 drones and around six missiles per day.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded two others in a region some 260 miles east of Moscow, a Russian official said Monday, as fighting continued ahead of Friday’s Russia-U.S. summit in which President Vladimir Putin seeks a peace deal to lock in Moscow’s gains.

Across the Donetsk region, word of Steve Witkoff’s emerging deal with the Kremlin, confused in details, and immediately refused by Kyiv, has put lives already ravaged by war into a deeper spin.