Donbas cession tied to Nato membership, Zelensky says, as Ukraine frontline mapped and peace talks stall over land dispute

Territory remains the central obstacle

A new round of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi failed to make significant progress toward a peace deal. The discussions restarted diplomacy about nine months after delegations last met in Geneva, but the sides remain divided over territory.

Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia described the discussions as having “good momentum,” while saying Europe should take part in future talks. He said a solution could be reached by the end of the year.

Frontlines and claimed territory

The figures cited in the report show little change in the land Russia claims to control since February. Analysis by the Institute for the Study of War puts the area at 43,585 square miles then and 43,527 square miles now.

The same source estimates that areas where Ukrainian forces are reportedly or assessed to be counterattacking have expanded from 23,089 square miles in February to 27,113 square miles in November. The figures describe different measures: Russian claims and assessed Ukrainian operations.

Attacks continue across borders

The diplomatic effort comes as Russian attacks target Ukrainian energy and railway infrastructure. Zelensky said eight regions were attacked overnight into Sunday, and said restrictions on Ukraine’s use of SpaceX’s Starshield service had partly enabled the strikes. He also said on X that Russian forces were targeting substations with Shahed drones.

Russia’s defence ministry said a cargo vessel was struck at the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk. Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian forces hit the Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical plant and an oil refining facility in Russia’s Tatarstan region overnight.

The report says the Iranian-made drones can travel up to 2,000 kilometres with a 50-kilogram warhead. It also says analysts estimated that about 30 per cent of Russia’s oil-processing capacity had been taken offline or disrupted by November 10, up from 20 per cent in June.

Pressure on Kyiv and Moscow

The report describes Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities as an effort to reduce a major source of war funding and bring the conflict closer to Russians. It says the attacks have damaged energy infrastructure and other targets deep inside Russia. Zelensky told NBC’s Meet the Press that Ukraine could not “prevail” if the United States officially sided with Russia. In an interview on 60 Minutes on November 9, Donald Trump said he expected a peace deal and that Ukraine would end up with a “different shape.”