Well, let's shift our focus now to Ukraine and the scene at the Kremlin today, where it was apparently all smiles as special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What do we know about what transpired?

Yeah, you see it there. We have not received a readout from the U.S. side. The Kremlin says it was five hours long.

Tonight, one Putin aid said there is no

compromise over Ukraine yet, this aid saying there are some American developments that are

acceptable, some that are not suitable, and peace quote is no closer, but no further away.

Look, Ukrainian and U.S. officials do say that in the last 10 days or so, they've been meeting,

they have made progress toward this peace deal that the U.S. has been pushing Ukraine to accept.

But at the same time, European officials tell me that the U.S. is still pushing one of the most

difficult items for Ukraine, and that is giving up parts of the Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine.

You see it flashing there that Ukraine still holds, and Russia has failed to capture

despite 11 years of war.

Earlier today, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy tried to portray Putin as the one blocking

peace, but did endorse the U.S. outreach to Moscow.

Putin, I mean, now he is thinking how to find new reasons not to finish this war. And we count on pressure from the United States.

And they said that we have to work on this plan and they will pressure on both sides.

Of course, we wanted them to be more on our side,

but okay, mediator, then mediator. And they began to pressure both sides and we supported the ideas.

Mediator is mediator. Whitkoff and Kushner now fly to Europe from their meeting in Moscow to meets theensk. The Kremlin is saying that peace is no closer yet no further away is quite a line. I mean, what does this all mean for the front lines right now in Ukraine? I mean, Zelensky himself has really admitted that it's difficult. And today, Russia claimed that it captured the city of Prokhovsk and eastern Donetsk. It's a key hub. Ukraine denied that. But look, take a look at this map with data from the Institute of Study of War. It shows multiple cities where Russia is making slow gains, even at great costs. Pekros, Volskan, Kuomans. These are the cities that Putin is arguing to the U.S. We are inevitably going to take over militarily, so you should just push

Ukraine to give them up diplomatically.

Nick Schifrin, reporting out two major stories today.

Our thanks to you, as always.

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