Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian forces clear another village near Pokrovsk, military says
Key developments on Sept. 2:
- Ukraine liberates another village near Pokrovsk, military says
- Russia open to 'cooperation' with Ukraine, US at occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Putin claims
- About 2,000 North Korean soldiers killed fighting for Russia, Seoul says
- Kremlin denies Trump, Putin ever agreed on face-to-face Zelensky meeting
Ukrainian forces cleared Russian troops from the Donetsk Oblast village of Udachne and raised the Ukrainian flag in the settlement, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Sept. 2.
Udachne lies around 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Pokrovsk, a strategic town that has become one of the fiercest front-line areas in Ukraine's east.
The announcement comes only a day after the Ukrainian military reported the liberation of the nearby village of Novoekonomichne.
Soldiers of Ukraine's 425th Skelia Regiment destroyed all Russian positions in the settlement, the General Staff said, sharing a video of a pair of Ukrainian soldiers raising the flag on top of a damaged building.
"For two weeks, assault units gradually cleared house after house and raised the Ukrainian flag over the village," a military spokesperson said in the video.
The Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState showed that Russian forces were still holding the southern part of Udachne as of Sept. 1, with the northern part marked as a contested "gray" area.
Kyiv says that Russia has amassed around 100,000-strong force near Pokrovsk, a key strategic hub that has faced a Russian onslaught for many months.
Moscow sought to push forward in Ukraine's east during its spring and summer offensive, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to negotiate a peace deal.
According to DeepState, the Russian offensive slowed down by 18% in August, with Russian forces occupying 464 square kilometers (180 square miles) of new territory.
The DeepState report followed claims that Ukrainian forces are gradually pushing Russian troops back near the town of Dobropillia in Donetsk Oblast.
At the same time, the Ukrainian military warned that Russia is already preparing new attacks, namely in the direction of the town of Siversk in Donetsk Oblast.
Russia open to 'cooperation' with Ukraine, US at occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Putin claims
Moscow is open to "three-way cooperation" with the U.S. and Ukraine regarding the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 2, according to Russian news channel Vesti.
The comments, made during Putin's meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Beijing, represent an apparent shift from Moscow's previous refusal of any changes regarding the Ukrainian plant's oversight.
Details of such possible cooperation remain unclear.
The largest nuclear plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, has been under Russian occupation since 2022. While the facility remains under Russian control, it is not currently generating electricity.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, said in March that the plant's status could play a role in an eventual settlement.
When talking to Zelensky in March, Trump suggested that the U.S. could operate and possibly own the nuclear power plant to ensure its protection.
A similar U.S. proposal, reported by Reuters on April 25, envisioned Ukraine regaining the plant but under U.S. administration, with electricity distributed to both Ukraine and Russia.
Russia's Foreign Ministry responded by claiming the plant to be a "Russian facility" that cannot be transferred to Ukraine or any other country. In 2022, Moscow illegally declared the annexation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast and three other Ukrainian regions, despite not controlling them fully.
In turn, Kyiv has demanded that the plant be returned under Ukraine's control and accused Moscow of using the facility as part of nuclear blackmail tactics.
It remains unclear whether Putin's statement represents an actual shift in policy, as the Kremlin has repeatedly retracted its pledges regarding Ukraine and consistently pursued maximalist goals.
About 2,000 North Korean soldiers killed fighting for Russia, Seoul says
Roughly 2,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia have been killed while fighting against Ukraine, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Sept. 2, citing lawmakers briefed by the country's intelligence service.
According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Pyongyang plans to send an additional 6,000 troops to Russia as part of its third wave of deployment.
Around 1,000 combat engineers have already arrived in Russia, while troops dispatched earlier are reportedly stationed in the "rear front as reserve forces."
North Korea has claimed to have suffered only 350 casualties in earlier phases of the deployment, while South Korean intelligence reported in April that the number of Pyongyang's soldiers killed in action was around 600.
Pyongyang has become one of Moscow's most important military allies during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, supplying artillery shells, missiles, and soldiers.
North Korean involvement became visible after Ukraine's August 2024 cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast. Russia retook much of the territory in March 2025, with support from North Korean forces.
Pyongyang confirmed in April that North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian units, though reporting in the media suggested their presence months earlier.
The deepening military ties follow the June 2024 signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, under which the two countries pledged mutual aid if either were attacked.
Kremlin denies Trump, Putin ever agreed on face-to-face Zelensky meeting
There was no agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Sept. 2, contradicting Trump's earlier claims.
The U.S. president had said on Aug. 19 that he began "arrangements" for a Putin-Zelensky meeting, with the possibility of trilateral talks after.
"Right now, there is talk of a trilateral meeting, of a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. But specifically, as far as I know, there was no agreement between Putin and Trump on this," Ushakov told Russian propagandist Pavel Zarubin.
The statement follows the expiration of another deadline set by Trump for Moscow to move toward a settlement in its war.
Ushakov said raising the level of delegations in Ukrainian-Russian negotiations had been discussed during Trump and Putin's phone call and at their Alaska summit, but no agreement was made.
"So far, what's being broadcast in the press is not exactly what we agreed on," he said.
Trump met Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Aug. 18, three days after his meeting with Putin. Zelensky said after the talks that Ukraine was prepared to engage in unconditional negotiations with Moscow at the highest level.
The Ukrainian president has repeatedly voiced readiness for a direct meeting with Putin, urging the U.S. to impose tougher measures if Russia continues to avoid such talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Aug. 22 that a Zelensky-Putin meeting was "not ready at all," accusing Ukraine of rejecting several preconditions and questioning Zelensky's legitimacy.
A source in Ukraine's President's Office told the Kyiv Independent earlier that a face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin will not happen unless the U.S. ups its pressure on the Russian leader.
Trump said on Aug. 25 that Putin avoids meeting Zelensky because "he doesn't like him."
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