President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Ukraine has handed proposals for ending the war to U.S. negotiators, while warning that Russia plans a new mobilization following its parliamentary elections in September. The diplomatic push comes as long-range drone and missile strikes intensify across the front lines.
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine grinds through its fourth year, the military reality in the air grows increasingly destructive even as diplomatic channels show signs of movement. Moscow continues its long-range drone and missile campaigns with the aim of breaking civilian morale, while Kyiv targets the industrial backbone of the Russian war economy. U.S.-led talks on the Ukraine war stalled over Iran conflict.
Yet neither military campaign has managed to decisively crack the stalemate on the ground. With the ground war between Russia and Ukraine locked in stalemate, a deadlier fight is unfolding in the skies. Moscow is betting that it can crush the will of Ukraine’s civilian population, while Kyiv is trying to cripple the industries that underpin Russia’s economy. Yet despite the rising civilian toll and widening destruction, neither side is close to breaking.
Zelenskiy Details U.S. Proposals and Mobilization Warnings
Speaking in a nightly video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed that Ukrainian authorities have conveyed our proposals to the American side as part of a concerted push for a settlement. He emphasized that Washington holds the leverage to alter the trajectory of the conflict.
We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,
Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
And the United States can help strengthen our defence, first and foremost with air defence, and put pressure on Russia so that its plans are different — to prepare for an end to the war rather than prolonging it.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, via Reuters
Zelenskiy offered no details on the proposals. The diplomatic overture arrives while both nations anticipate visits from U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Both countries say U.S. negotiators Witkoff, Kushner, expected to visit. While those envoys last visited Moscow in January, they have not yet traveled to Kyiv. Ukraine has consistently pushed for a ceasefire after nearly 4-1/2 years of active fighting. On the other side, Russia says it wants a settlement, but any solution must involve Ukraine fully ceding four regions Moscow claims as well as resolving the conflict’s “root causes.”
Intelligence Points to Post-Election Russian Draft
Beyond the diplomatic track, Ukrainian intelligence has uncovered preparations for an escalation in Russian troop numbers. Zelenskiy warned that Moscow intends to exploit its upcoming parliamentary elections in September to manufacture public consent for a fresh draft, using the poll outcome to impose new mobilisation. Zelenskiy said that Ukraine had handed proposals to U.S. negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow and suggested that Russia would use its parliamentary election next month as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation.
They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,
Zelenskiy said as part of a plan to create the appearance that Russians supposedly support the war.
Then, following the so-called election, he plans an additional rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another similar number next year.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, via Reuters
The draft, he said, would be in addition to recruitment through the conclusion of contracts with servicemen. The political stage for this maneuver is already tightly controlled. The Putin-backed United Russia Party and other broadly pro-Kremlin parties are set to retain their dominance in the Russian parliament after the vote. Meanwhile, Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday barred the liberal Yabloko party, the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow’s war in Ukraine, from competing in the election.
Russia declared a partial mobilisation
in 2022 after the launch in February of its full-scale invasion. Zelenskiy has previously suggested that Moscow would introduce a new mobilisation. Russian officials have declined to discuss the issue. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, one of Russia’s most ardent hawks, said last month that Russia needed no new mobilisation as 200,000 volunteers had signed contracts in the first half of 2026.
Financial Realities of an Attrition Conflict
With high-level diplomatic proposals now formally delivered to American negotiators, the coming weeks will test whether international pressure can alter a conflict that continues to escalate in both ruthlessness and destruction. We also have new reporting on the CIA director’s surprise visit to Moscow this week—and the warning he delivered to Russia.
