MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops launched a series of attacks on Russia’s largest cities near the front line ahead of the Russia-US summit held in Alaska on August 15, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador at large for issues of the Kiev regime’s crimes, told TASS.
"During arrangements for the Russia-US summit, the Kiev regime conducted quite a number of provocations to derail preparations for the talks and create a negative information environment. Downtown districts in the largest cities near the front line - Rostov, Belgorod, Kursk, and Donetsk - came under attack," the diplomat said. "Residential and government buildings as well as congested civilian areas were attacked," he specified, citing an analysis of crimes committed by the Kiev regime in the week of August 11.
Hours to the Alaska summit between the Russia and US leaders, Ukrainian troops launched a HIMARS attack on a high-rise building in central Donetsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), killing a 73-year-old woman and injuring four others, Miroshnik recalled.
On August 15, Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump met at a military base in Alaska. The summit lasted about three hours: there was a one-on-one discussion in the American leader’s limousine on the way to the main venue for the talks and a narrow "three-on-three" meeting. The Russian side was also represented by Presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while the American side was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.