Zelenskyy: Battlefield Gains Strengthen Kyiv's Hand in US-Led Peace Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that successes on the battlefield are strengthening Kyiv's position in negotiations to end the war. He spoke a day before a new round of US-led trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi involving Ukrainian, Russian and American officials. The war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion, has lasted nearly five years.

"Every task that is fully accomplished, every defensive operation that increases Ukraine's strength and delivers results, strengthens Ukraine and, above all, strengthens us in negotiations," the president said in his nightly video address. He said Ukraine's top military commander, Mykhailo Drapatyi, had presented a report highlighting heavy recent Russian losses. Zelenskyy also pointed to Ukraine's long-range strikes on Russian targets, including oil industry sites.

Hopes and disagreements over the talks

An American official told Reuters that US negotiators believe Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin may be willing to compromise on territory, each ceding a little. The proposed deal would give Ukraine an end to the war, security guarantees and a roadmap to EU accession. In a 60 Minutes interview, Donald Trump said Ukraine would have "a little bit different shape" under a settlement, without elaborating. A senior Ukrainian official strongly denied the government would consider such concessions.

Trump said on Monday that Washington sees a "very strong inclination" to end the war and that both sides are "tired of fighting." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was more cautious, saying the process still has "ways to go" and that bringing Europeans to the table with the Russians has not yet happened.

European powers, including France, Germany and the European Commission, will send officials to Abu Dhabi, but Russia has made clear it does not want Europeans taking part. Ukrainian delegates will separately brief European allies. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said after meeting Rubio: "Europe belongs at this table."

Losses and attacks

Data shared with The Guardian, leaked from Russia's state statistics agency Rosstat, shows 412,576 death certificates explicitly linked to the war. The data was obtained by the hacker groups Cyber Partisans and Silent Crow.

On Monday, Russian forces struck four electrical substations in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions. A strike on a warehouse in Odesa holding food for kindergartens and schools killed three people. Ukrainian drones started a fire at the KINEF oil refinery near St. Petersburg.