Kremlin made a statement about the cessation of hostilities and a meeting with Trump

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s position in potential ceasefire talks remains unchanged — that Russian troops should stay in their current positions.

Peskov also declined to share details about preparations for the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Budapest, saying that “a lot of homework still needs to be done by the foreign policy teams” before the summit.

Earlier reports claimed that Trump had urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Putin’s conditions, warning that Russia would “destroy” him otherwise. According to those reports, Trump allegedly pressed Ukraine to surrender the entire Donetsk region, echoing points Putin made during their recent conversation.

Trump has since denied those claims. He said he did not discuss ceding Donbas to Russia and reaffirmed that the U.S. position is for both sides to hold along the current front line.

Russians launched a large-scale attack on Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injuring 16

Russian forces carried out a large-scale strike on the city of Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on October 20, injuring at least 16 people and damaging an infrastructure facility, according to regional officials.

Vladyslav Haivanenko, the acting head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, said 15 of the injured were hospitalized, including four in serious condition. “An infrastructure facility has been damaged and a fire has broken out,” Haivanenko said. “The aggressor also sent a drone toward the Verbky hromada, where another fire occurred.”

Russian forces also attacked the Nikopol district with artillery and first-person-view (FPV) drones, targeting the city of Nikopol as well as the Pokrovske and Myrove hromadas.

The strikes damaged an agricultural enterprise, a multi-story residential building, two houses, two outbuildings, a gas pipeline, and power lines.

[Editor’s note: A hromada is an administrative unit that includes a village, several villages, or a town and their adjacent territories.]

 Russian forces expanded their control zone in the central Kupiansk

Russian forces have recently concentrated significant troops in the city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, and are pushing south through the city, according to the Ukrainian military analysis group DeepState.

“The enemy has expanded its control zone in the central part of Kupiansk,” DeepState reported. “The situation in the city remains difficult, as groups that infiltrated over the past four weeks have built up enough infantry and are now attempting to move toward the southern part of the city.”

Ukrainian defenders have repeatedly struck Russian positions near the turnoff from the R-79 highway toward the village of Sadky, the analysts said. Russia’s ultimate objective appears to be seizing the key crossing at Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, a critical logistical hub.

DeepState noted that the number of Russian troops in Kupiansk is “significant,” but said Ukrainian aviation is actively operating over the city, limiting Russia’s offensive potential.

“Stabilization operations are ongoing in the city center,” the analysts added. “Special forces may release some footage, but these missions are primarily raids meant to disrupt Russian regrouping and advances. The coming weeks will be decisive for the fate of Kupiansk — either Ukraine’s defense forces will find reserves to stabilize the situation, or the enemy will amass a critical number of infantry.”