From the front-line city of Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk, to Zaporizhzhia in the south, there is little doubt that Russia is making advances. But, battlefield monitors suggest the picture is not quite so bleak for Ukraine as Trump and Putin suggest.

A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev has taken a leading role in talks with the U.S. about the Ukraine war and has met with special envoy Steve Witkoff several times this year.

Less than a week after the existence of a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine was first leaked, there are now two peace plans, one of which has been deemed unacceptable to Kyiv and its allies, while the other has drawn only stony silence from the Kremlin.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, has warned the proposal to end the war with Russia could come with consequences.

The U.S. 28-point proposal for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine was really a plan for 'capitulation' to the Kremlin, says Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former prime minister of Ukraine. But while the plan itself was a 'complete disaster' that created chaos for officials in Ukraine and Europe,