Industrial city in Donetsk region, strategic backbone of Ukraine’s fortress belt
Zelensky has disclosed that U.S. negotiators have floated Ukraine joining NATO with a potential exchange: Donbas concessions. He says Kyiv would seek concrete security guarantees, an army that is strong and funded, and rebuilding funds, before any referendum on Donbas. He adds that neutrality is not acceptable, and that the fight must end with explicit Western backing.
Russia and Ukraine are pursuing a new round of talks while the United States seeks postwar security guarantees. A trilateral effort involving the US and Europe is ratcheting up, with prisoner exchanges discussed and Moscow pressing for a broader security framework.
Russia’s forces are pressing the Donbas front as Zelensky reports potential 2027 mobilization up to 500,000 and warns of winter Russian strikes that could strain Ukraine’s energy grid. Kyiv seeks continued Western interceptors and air-defense support amid funding gaps.
Russian forces have intensified operations around Donetsk’s fortress belt, advancing on Sloviansk and nearby Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk, while Ukraine reshapes its command to defend the region. Western analysts remain skeptical of Russia’s battlefield gains as Kyiv seeks to hold critical strongholds amid ongoing fighting.
U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have travelled to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin and will then fly to Dublin to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Abu Dhabi talks. The talks have produced a proposed prisoner exchange, discussion of security guarantees and fresh U.S. proposals for a new Europe-Russia security framework, while Europe presses to join future talks.