But Russia has managed to accelerate its rate of advance in recent months, as it did last fall, before wet, cold conditions slowed Moscow’s progress. Peace talks have stalled, bringing focus back to where the war will ultimately be decided: the battlefield.

Ukraine's president said that troops maintained their defensive lines along more than 1,000 kilometers of the front.

Russia has intensified attacks in Ukraine’s northeast, announcing plans to create a so-called ‘buffer zone’ in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.