If Russia's Advance Continues at the Current Pace then Kyiv's Defense Could Collapse Entirely. --- This is why last week, the U.S. put forward a peace plan that included provisions to cap the Ukrainian military, bar Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and hand Russia land in Ukraine's east inhabited mostly by Russians.

  

 

The premise that a continued Russian advance could lead to the collapse of Kyiv's defenses appears to stem from assessments of the difficult situation on the ground. Reports from November 2025 indicate that the Russian progress in eastern front-line cities like Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub, is not a positive sign for Ukraine's defensive prospects in the Donbas region.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said the White House's 28-point peace proposal took into account Russia's perspective and is a good starting point for further discussions on ending the war in Ukraine, but described it as a list of questions requiring work.

 

"Some of our partners try to rush this agreement," Putin said, in his first public comments about the recent U.S. initiative for peace in Ukraine.

 

The Russian leader also addressed for the first time the leaked telephone conversations in which U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff appears to coach Putin's top foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov on how to handle President Trump and proposes a call between the U.S. and Russian leaders.

 

"Maybe they're fakes, maybe they are eavesdropped conversations," Putin said of the transcripts earlier reported by Bloomberg News. "But it's a crime to intercept calls."

 

In a wide-ranging news conference, Putin dismissed the possibility of a swift cease-fire and said his troops were advancing faster on the battlefield each month.

 

"When Ukrainian troops leave the territories they hold, then the fighting will stop," Putin said. "If they don't, then we'll achieve that through military means."

 

He warned that if Russia's advance continues at the current pace then Kyiv's defense could collapse entirely.

 

Last week, the U.S. put forward a peace plan that included provisions to cap the Ukrainian military, bar Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and hand Russia land in Ukraine's east inhabited mostly by Russians. The proposal, crafted with input of at least one Russian official, skewed in the Kremlin's favor.

 

"As a whole it could be the basis for some future agreement," Putin said of the original draft plan, since modified with Ukrainian and European input. "Each of these questions is a separate area, you have to work hard on every one."

 

However, raising what he sees as an obstacle to a deal, Putin dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy.

 

"We want to ultimately make a deal with the Ukrainian authorities," he said. "But right now it's practically and legally impossible."

 

Zelensky was elected in 2019 and can't face new elections while the country is under martial law. He has pledged to hold a new vote once the conflict is over.

 

Putin on Thursday held out the prospect of Russia and the U.S. working to regulate nuclear testing, and suggested that could be discussed between aides meeting in Moscow next week. Trump in recent weeks said he had ordered U.S. testing to begin on an equal basis with Russia and China.” [1]

 

1. World News: Putin Says U.S. Plan for Ending Ukraine War Needs Work. Luxmoore, Matthew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 28 Nov 2025: A6.