Vladimir Putin aims to seize the Donbas region by force or negotiation. Photo / Getty Images
Russia is gaining territory in Ukraine at one of the fastest rates since the war began as peace talks stall.
The Kremlin’s army seized 500 square kilometres of territory in November, up from 100 square miles the previous month, according to DeepState, a trusted Ukraine-based battlefield map.
The speed of advance was approaching the fastest since the initial invasion almost four years ago, the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said he will seize the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine either by force or through negotiation.
A plan to end the war, drawn up with Donald Trump’s administration, involved Ukraine handing over vast tracts of land. Ukraine and Europe have rejected the proposals.
The gains are likely to help persuade Trump that peace should be set on Russia’s terms, and that sending weapons and aid to Kyiv is a waste.
Russia is also moving forward around the small eastern city of Siversk in Donetsk as part of its broader push towards the “fortress city” of Sloviansk.
On Sunday, Russian Telegram reports suggested Moscow’s forces had seized the residential areas to its north, using small groups of infiltrators to get behind Ukrainian lines, a tactic employed with success in Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s military reported fierce battles were ongoing. Half of the city was within the contested zone, according to DeepState.
On Saturday night (local time), Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “long and substantive phone call” with White House Russia envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who is assisting the negotiations.
Shortly after the call, Putin launched a deadly missile and drone barrage aimed at Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure, including train stations.
European leaders have been scrambling as support for Ukraine wanes and the Trump administration turns its attention away from the conflict.
Trump’s son, Donald jnr, said in a Middle East conference that his father could walk away from the peace talks.
But Keith Kellogg, the outgoing US envoy to Ukraine, said a deal was “really close”. Ukrainian and US negotiators also issued a joint statement calling on Russia to show a “serious commitment to long-term peace”, sowing confusion about the prospect of a deal.
On Monday, Starmer will host Zelenskyy for the latest round of emergency talks at Downing Street, alongside Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor.
The hastily arranged summit appears to be an attempt to ensure Ukraine is not “betrayed” during the US-led peace process with Russia – a fear Macron alluded to this week.
The long-term US position was laid out in stark detail on Friday in Trump’s national security strategy report, which accused Europe of blocking peace in Ukraine.
It also tweaked language from previous versions of the document by dropping wording that described Russia as a direct threat.
Moscow welcomed the changes, saying the adjustments were “largely consistent” with its own vision.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have advanced on several fronts. Pokrovsk, a former rail and logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, looks poised to fall imminently after a long and costly battle, while its nearby town of Myrnohrad is close to being encircled.
After Ukraine deployed some of its best brigades and drone units to hold Pokrovsk, Russian forces have been able to stretch Kyiv’s resources along the 1000km front, opening up vulnerabilities in the southeast and further north.
As a result, Moscow has made steady gains in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and is close to capturing the northeastern city of Kupiansk, a vital stronghold that has been under attack for two years.
However, the figures appear worse than the reality on the battlefield, said Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group.
“There have been no grand breakthroughs … no immediate collapse of the Ukrainian front lines at the moment,” he told the Telegraph. “Russia has been unable to decisively break the front in any direction.”
Referring to Russia’s recent advances in the southeast, he argued that if Ukraine had to lose land, that would be the preferred place.
“Russia would have to have a huge amount more success to achieve something significant there; it has just captured small village after small village and many fields. These developments do not endanger the whole front for now,” Kastehelmi added.
Analysts believe it could still take Russia several years to take the rest of the Donbas – the prize Putin most seeks and which is heavily protected by the “fortress cities” of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
As winter sets in, the rate of Russia’s advance is expected to slow. And yet, in a signal to Washington, Putin has ordered the Russian military to prepare for winter combat – suggesting he will not soften his territorial demands.
Russia, which controls 19.2% of Ukraine, is demanding Kyiv surrender the entire Donbas region, according to the peace plan co-authored by Washington and Moscow last month. It also wants Ukraine to be banned from joining Nato and to significantly reduce its military.
The proposals provoked uproar in Kyiv and elsewhere in Europe, which together lobbied for a watered-down alternative proposal that was rejected by Putin last week, leaving talks once more at an impasse.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry claimed control of two villages: Kucherivka in the Kharkiv region and Rivne in Donetsk.
The Telegraph was unable to independently verify Russia’s most recent claimed advances, and Ukraine has not yet commented, but it follows confirmed advances in both regions.
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