Publicly, Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, continues to insist that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia. But, privately, in Kiev, Washington and some European capitals, the realization is firming up that the war will end at the negotiating table, and it will end without Ukraine recapturing its lost territory.

Once opponents understand he’s willing to give up territory to Russia, he won’t last much longer as president

Under martial law, there are no elections in sight in Ukraine. Exhausted, lawmakers, whose mandates have expired, must remain in office until the end of the war. Many want to resign.

Russian forces continue to make gains in eastern Ukraine

No progress on lifting restrictions on using Western weapons on Russian territory while prospect of Ukraine joining NATO still remote

“This is the most dangerous of all front lines,” says Oleksandr, the head of a medical unit for the Ukrainian army’s 25th Brigade.

The key Donbass stronghold of Pokrovsk will inevitably fall, Harald Kujat believes

Moscow’s forces have been recapturing some villages and land taken in a Ukrainian incursion into Russia. The advances could undermine Kyiv’s hopes of pushing Russia to the negotiating table.

The impending elections of the US President apparently can open a window for negotiations on a truce between Ukraine and Russia. This week, a series of articles appeared in the leading Western media, from which it follows that Kyiv is ready to negotiate a truce in which the occupied territories de facto (but not de jure) will be left under the control of Russia, but Ukraine will receive either a guarantee of joining Nato, or similar security guarantees.

The eastern city is a key military hub, but it’s also critical to Ukraine’s steel industry.