Kremlin says Ukraine is already a different country as Abu Dhabi talks near

Kremlin rejects Trump's view of Ukraine's shape

On Monday, 9 November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told his daily telephone briefing that Ukraine is already a different country geographically compared with 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. He said the reality on the ground was evident and that nobody could deny it. The reply followed a CBS 60 Minutes interview with US President Donald Trump, published that day, in which Trump said he expected a peace agreement and that Ukraine would end up with a somewhat different shape. Asked whether Vladimir Putin was deliberately prolonging negotiations, Trump said he did not think so. He declined to say whether he trusted Putin or Volodymyr Zelensky more, adding that he got along well with both leaders.

Abu Dhabi talks and territorial demands

Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to hold US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November, a day after Trump's remarks were made public. Trump said the war would end soon and that it would end only because of him. The Kremlin has firmly ruled out any role for the European Union in the peace negotiations. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot nonetheless said Europe would be well represented at the Abu Dhabi meeting. The two sides remain deeply divided over territorial concessions and security guarantees after any armistice.

Russia has for years insisted that Kyiv recognise five annexed territories: Crimea, annexed after a 2014 referendum organised by Moscow, and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Zelensky said in October that Kyiv was willing to discuss the territorial question only at a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, and that in principle it was not prepared to cede territory.

Russian losses reported by Kyiv

Ukraine's General Staff reported that 2,980 Russian personnel were killed or seriously wounded on Sunday, 8 November, which it described as the highest daily figure since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The previous daily record in its reporting was 2,500, set on 1 November 2026. Kyiv also said October 2026 was the bloodiest month for Russian troops since the start of the full-scale war. The report came a day after Ukraine's army put cumulative Russian personnel losses at 400,000. Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes its own losses, citing operational secrecy, so these counts are hard to check independently.

1 November 2026 (previous record)2,500

8 November 20262,980

1 November 2026 (previous record)

2500 personnel

8 November 2026

2980 personnel

Data from the article text

Hacked Rosstat data and unverified estimates

Hacker groups Belarusian Cyberpartisans and Silent Crow (rendered Silent Crown in some reports) claimed on 7 November that documents from a cyberattack on Rosstat, Russia's federal statistics service, showed between 394,000 and 450,000 deaths among people who fought for Russia or had other links to the war. The documents reportedly came from Rosstat's internal demographic database and covered death certificates registered between February 2022 and August 2026. According to the Moscow Times, Silent Crown put the figure at 450,100 and Belarus Cyber Partisans at 393,881. The Kyiv Independent said it could not verify the authenticity of the documents or the groups' estimates.

Silent Crown450,100

Belarus Cyber Partisans393,881

Silent Crown

450100 deaths (claimed)

Belarus Cyber Partisans

393881 deaths (claimed)

Data from the article text

Fabricated reports reaching Putin

The Financial Times, citing sources close to the Kremlin, reports that Russian commanders have fed Putin fictitious battlefield gains, some supported by AI-generated video. According to the report, pressure for quick results led officers at each level to inflate claims as they passed them up the chain, so assault orders went out against objectives that forces did not control. The AI footage was first made for ultranationalist pro-war bloggers and later entered official reports to the president. The report cites a mid-October Defence Ministry broadcast from Dobropillia, a strategic town in Donetsk, as an example. Talks in Abu Dhabi are scheduled for 10 and 11 November.