Putin will not sacrifice his objectives in Ukraine to improve relations with Trump and is expected to breach Ukrainian defenses in the upcoming months.

Vladimir Putin continues to ignore President Trump’s disappointment and push forward in Ukraine with renewed intensity, ignoring new pressure from the US potentially being applied. The Russian dictator believes Russia’s battlefield advantage is growing, and that Ukraine’s defenses could collapse soon and has no plans of stopping the fighting. “He will not sacrifice his goals in Ukraine for the sake of improving relations with Trump,” say researchers at the Carnegie Center.

Putin hopes to eventually reach an agreement with Trump to ease sanctions when he’s ready to end the war.

The Russian military is now advancing in Ukraine at its fastest pace since fall 2024, with some units even entering the Dnipropetrovsk region. At the same time, Ukraine’s military continues to struggle with a severe personnel shortage, while Russian forces are expanding in some areas, bolstered by enough mercenaries.

However, The Economist notes that Russia’s summer offensive has become the “deadliest” in the entire war for Russian troops. As of July 9, Russian losses range from 900,000 to 1.3 million people, including roughly 190,000-350,000 dead. During the offensive that began on May 1 and is ongoing, about 31,000 Russians have died.

The Khortytsia group of troops reported that Russian forces concentrated a record number of soldiers in the Pokrovsk direction during the summer offensive, committing over 100,000 soldiers.