Possible Russian front-line breakthrough risks boosting Putin ahead of Trump summit

Russian forces may have punched a small but significant hole through Ukraine’s front lines, Kyiv-supporting military analysts warned Tuesday, a development that could give Vladimir Putin a boost ahead of his Alaska summit with President Donald Trump.

Advanced units have pushed farther into Ukrainian-held territory in the Donetsk region, creating two narrow, 10-mile prongs near the battlefield hot spot town of Pokrovsk, according to watchdogs including Ukraine's Deep State and Washington's Institute for the Study of War, two of the top open-source teams tracking the war's battlefield developments.