Jeanene Cooper

When I received the second report from our negotiating team after their meetings in Abu Dhabi, they told me that the Russians think and say they have already occupied half of Donbas, which remains under our control. These were military officers, Russian intelligence, and they were serious about it. Our team told them, “We don’t know how you can even say such things. We have video footage, images, other things proving that these areas are under our control.” This is the problem. Putin lives in a different reality. Of course, he will be sharing with the Americans that he needs one or two months to fully occupy the east of Ukraine. I can draw a picture for him too where I fully occupy Russia. But it’s not true. What was good is that the American side confirmed the Ukrainian assessment of what is happening on the battlefield. This is why we need to sit and speak at the level of leaders. There are a lot of questions. Like we spoke about the city of Kherson that is divided by the river today. The Russians control one bank, we control the other. But people want to live united on both banks. This is a Ukrainian city. Such issues are sensitive, but we have to speak about them. I think that tomorrow the teams will discuss the possibility of meeting at the level of leaders. I'm not sure that Russia is ready, but we will raise this topic. From a conversation with journalists.

Russia’s ballistic campaign against Ukraine continues, and unfortunately, because of the shortage of Patriot missiles, there have been significant hits. Today, Ukraine is generating more electricity than it consumes. But because Russia is striking substations and power grids, we are seeing significant shortages in Kyiv and other regions. The Russians are striking bridges across the Dnipro – from Kyiv all the way to Zaporizhzhia. During the night leading into today, the Kyiv Northern Bridge was hit. Six ballistic missiles were fired at the bridge, and four struck it. Our country will be represented in several formats in November that can bring Ukraine greater strength: the G7, the Coalition of the Willing, and Ramstein. We are working to make each of these formats as productive as possible. And the results must focus first and foremost on air defenses and energy.