Kremlin no longer willing to return any occupied Ukrainian territory as part of potential peace deal, Bloomberg reports

Per Bloomberg, Russia has significantly hardened its negotiating position and no longer intends to return any occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a potential peace settlement. According to sources close to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin is demanding full control of the Donbas region, along with permanent retention of captured territory in Sumy and Kharkiv as buffer zones. Russia attributes this shift to what it says were broken informal understandings from an August twenty twenty-five summit in Anchorage between the Russian and U.S. presidents. The Kremlin said it's prepared to return to negotiations once it fully seizes Donetsk. The Defense Ministry assured Putin this could happen by the end of twenty twenty-six, though multiple Russian military officials consider that timeline unrealistic—suggesting Donbas could require another year or more. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the Bloomberg report as speculation.

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