Kremlin aide says Russia's battlefield gains influenced Ukraine talks with US

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Russia's recent battlefield progress in Ukraine had what he described as a positive impact on peace negotiations held with U.S. envoys in Moscow a day earlier.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Russia's recent battlefield progress in Ukraine had what he described as a positive impact on peace negotiations held with U.S. envoys in Moscow a day earlier. In video footage released on the talks' eve, President Vladimir Putin hailed what his commanders said was Russia's capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv dismissed his claim, saying fighting was still ongoing there.

But Ushakov, speaking after the talks between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, said that "the course and nature of the negotiations were, of course, influenced by the successes of recent weeks...on the battlefield. "In other words, our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, have contributed to a more positive assessment of the paths to a peaceful settlement by our foreign partners," Ushakov told reporters.

He said he hoped that Ukraine and its European allies would also adopt what he called "a more balanced attitude and perception of what is going on." Russian forces control more than 19% of Ukraine, or 115,600 square km (45,000 square miles), up only one percentage point from two years ago, though they have advanced in 2025 at their fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.

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