Zelensky Says He Hopes Peace Summit Can Be Held In Autumn

Reuters carrying a headline from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stating: "He hopes peace summit can be held this autumn."

• The comments come as Kyiv continues to make negligible progress in its counteroffensive. Pentagon officials told Politico this week that, "gains are being measured in the hundreds of meters."
• An official said: “They are making mostly small, incremental gains... They are still facing stiff Russian resistance — second and third layers of defenses.”
• Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters yesterday: “It has and will continue to be a tough fight for them.”
• A lack of battlefield progress may increase the prospect of diplomatic negotiations, with the next key event, a National Security Advisor-level summit scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, August 5-6.
• The prevailing view is that the Jeddah summit is unlikely to produce any concrete result but help build a platform for more constructive dialogue between ambivalent powers of the 'Global South' and the Western-led Ukraine alliance.
• The summit will also raise the profile of both Saudi Arabia and Turkey as middle-power arbiters in the conflict. Both of which have had notable recent diplomatic successes with Russia.