TALKS AIMED AT bringing Russia’s war against its neighbour to an end are continuing in a number of countries but on the front lines, Ukraine is struggling to keep the invading army at bay as winter sets in. 

Negotiations have been taking place between various parties in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates since a US-Russian drafted peace plan appeared to rejuvenate efforts to end almost four years of war, despite objections from Kyiv and scepticism from many European states. 

In western Ukraine, though, recent developments have piled pressure on Kyiv’s forces as Russia has reportedly stepped up the resourcing of its offensive. Russia currently holds around of fifth of Ukraine. 

The Donbas industrial and mining area, comprising the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, is the Kremlin’s primary target. They have never been closer to their goal of seizing the region. 

“I can’t remember the enemy advancing at such a speed for a long time,” Maksym Zhorin, an officer in the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps said on Telegram.

“The situation is only getting worse,” he warned.

“The issue now is not the loss of certain settlements, but a significant improvement in the enemy’s operational capacity across all fronts.”

This was echoed by Mykyta, a soldier interviewed by the AFP news agency.

“The situation on the front line is such that we are losing land and people every day,” he said, expressing hope that those at the top will “negotiate faster and stop all this”.

According to data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres each month in 2025 – a step up from 2024.

US envoy advised Kremlin aide on pitching plan to Trump

With negotiations ongoing, it has emerged this week that US President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how to go about pitching a peace plan, according to a transcript of the call published by Bloomberg News.

Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a transcript of the 14 October call, advised Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him for the so-called Gaza peace deal, say Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace.

“From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said, according to the transcript.

When asked by Russian state media to comment on Bloomberg’s report, Ushakov did not question the recordings’ authenticity but said that they had not been leaked by Moscow.

He also said that the calls had likely been leaked to “hinder” US-Russia ties.

“It’s unlikely this is being done to improve relations,” he said.

Ushakov also said that he spoke to Witkoff by phone “quite often” but refused to discuss the content of the recording.

“The essence of these conversations is that they are confidential. I won’t comment. No one should comment.”

Trump, similarly, did not dispute the account of the conversations saying that Witkoff has to “sell” the deal to Ukraine and Russia.

“That’s what a dealmaker does.”

But US Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has been critical of Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Witkoff favours the Russians.

“He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon said on social media.

Outmatched 

Back on the front lines, Moscow’s troops are currently fighting for four key settlements in the Donetsk region: Lyman, Siversk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovsk.

Their loss would weaken Kyiv’s defences and supply lines, putting the last major settlements controlled by Ukraine in the region, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, at risk.

Both fortified cities are part of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in the heavily embattled region, protecting Kyiv’s sparser defensive lines to the rear.

Russian forces have also made swift advances in the less protected Dnipropetrovsk region, which they entered in the summer.

On top of territorial losses, the Ukrainian army is struggling to keep up with Russia’s superior manpower, despite Moscow’s heavy losses since the start of the invasion.

While Russia does not publish official casualty statistics, an open-source investigation by the BBC and Russian media outlet Mediazona estimated that nearly 150,000 soldiers have been killed so far.

But those losses have slowed since April and the Kremlin has managed to bolster the army’s ranks by offering recruits hefty paychecks.

By contrast, the Ukrainian army has struggled to recover its lost manpower, with many soldiers going absent without leave and a government mobilisation drive failing to solve those issues.

“Russian troops are achieving deeper breakthroughs and conquering increasingly vast territories each month,” the director of the Centre for European and International Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, told AFP.

British researcher Jade McGlynn, who studies the Russia-Ukraine war at King’s College London, predicted a “bloody, attritional winter” of fighting.

“While negotiations drag on without a definitive breakthrough,” McGlynn said, ”Ukraine hangs on but struggles with mobilisation, ammunition and domestic disillusion.”

With reporting from AFP and Press Association