Nearly three years after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, his troops are making steady progress on the battlefield.

That will take some doing. Putin remains uninterested in peace talks as long as Russian troops continue to gain ground in Ukraine’s east, albeit at a slow pace, and while Ukrainian forces hold seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia, according to John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other former officials.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stated that Donald Trump has not yet presented an official plan to end the war with Russia. He also emphasised that he is ready to engage in talks with Putin if they would lead to an end to the war.