MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We want to get the latest from the battlefield, where Russian attacks have been escalating in recent days.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
NPR's Greg Myre is in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and joins me now to talk about that fighting. Good morning, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So what should we know about the fighting right now as these two leaders head into the summit?
MYRE: Well, it's not letting up. This week, a small number of Russian troops slipped through Ukraine's defensive lines on the main battlefront in the east near the town of Pokrovsk. Ukraine's military says it's tracking down these Russians and stabilizing the area. It notes that the Russian forces are operating in small groups of about a dozen or so fighters and don't have sufficient numbers to really hold territory.
Now, this is just one town largely reduced to rubble, but it says a lot about the larger war. Russia has tried to take Pokrovsk for more than a year. I recall last August when the Russians advanced to within 10 miles. They've now surrounded it on three sides but still haven't reached Pokrovsk. And this is a familiar scenario, a large Russian force making incremental gains and suffering huge casualties while Ukraine tries to hold the line.
FADEL: OK. So that's a look at the ground war. What about the air war?
MYRE: Yeah, the new development here is Russia is unleashing waves of drones on most nights. Until this year, they'd fire off maybe a couple dozen a night. In July, Russia averaged more than 200 drones a night, many at civilian targets. Ukraine really has to scramble to put up a wide range of defenses. Here's air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YURII IHNAT: (Speaking Ukrainian).
MYRE: So he says Ukraine is destroying these incoming drones with helicopters, fighter jets, electronic jamming, machine guns, missiles fired from the ground, but some Russian drones still get through. Now, I should add that Ukraine is also on the offensive with its own drones. It strikes deep inside Russia at oil refineries and railway stations. It's targeting the Russian transportation network that's used to send ammunition and other supplies to its troops.
FADEL: Does Ukraine have enough weapons to sustain the fighting at current levels?
MYRE: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs more help when he offered a battlefield assessment this week. He said Ukraine still has the edge when it comes to drones, but Russia has a huge advantage in artillery. Now, he also spoke about casualties, which neither side discusses very often. He said Monday, for example, was fairly typical. Russian forces suffered nearly a thousand dead, wounded and captured. Ukraine had a total of 340 in these combined categories. He said those casualty figures and the ratio with Russia losing about three times as many troops as Ukraine tends to be the norm.
FADEL: OK. And it looks like Ukraine is not going to be part of the - Friday's meeting. Does the leadership there expect this summit between the U.S. and Russia will lead to any changes in this war?
MYRE: You know, the short answer is no, Leila. While there's talk of a possible ceasefire, Zelenskyy says Putin shows no sign of preparing for a truce. Zelenskyy met commanders this week, and they say Russia appears to be preparing for expanded military operations. The Ukrainians think Putin may offer some concession at the summit, perhaps a partial ceasefire for a limited period of time. But they fear they'll face pressure to make concessions, even though they're just a bystander at the summit.
FADEL: That's NPR's Greg Myre. Thank you, Greg.
MYRE: Sure thing, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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