The Kremlin said Wednesday that its army’s recent battlefield successes in Ukraine had bolstered its position in talks to end the fighting, as both Moscow and Kyiv prepared for more negotiations with the United States.US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner negotiated into the early hours with Vladimir Putin but no breakthrough for a peace settlement was announced.The Kremlin said the two sides had failed to find a “compromise” on the crucial issue of territories and that Ukraine’s participation in NATO remained a “key” question in the talks.The White House had previously voiced optimism about its plan to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II but that hope appeared to fade on Wednesday, with Moscow saying it had found parts of the plan “unacceptable”.Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end the war.Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine gathered pace last month and Putin has said in recent days that Moscow is ready to fight on to seize the rest of the land it claims if Kyiv does not surrender it.”The progress and nature of the negotiations were influenced by the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield in recent weeks,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov — who took part in the US-Russia talks — told reporters, including AFP.”Our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, have helped make the assessments of our foreign partners regarding the paths to a peace settlement more appropriate,” he added.Moscow insisted it was incorrect to say Putin rejected the plan in its entirety.It also said Russia was still committed to diplomacy, despite Putin’s stark warning that Moscow was prepared to fight Europe if it wanted war.”We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. – ‘Keep fight ongoing’ -The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US arms for Kyiv. NATO chief Mark Rutte said it was positive that peace talks were ongoing but that the alliance should make sure that “Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going”.Russian troops have been grinding forward across the front line against outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces.Earlier this week, Moscow claimed to have captured the important stronghold of Pokrovsk but a Ukraine army unit fighting in the city said urban combat was still ongoing.”The enemy is bogged down in urban combat for Pokrovsk and currently cannot seize the city using weapons,” the 7th Air Assault Corps said. According to Ukrainian online map project DeepState, most of the city is occupied by the Russians.European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow will reach agreements without them and have spent the last weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate. In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable, with Putin delivering an exceptionally hawkish statement on Tuesday.”We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said.Britain has downplayed Putin’s hawkish messaging, calling it “yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn’t serious about peace”.- Ukraine role in NATO ‘key’ in talks -Moscow went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, saying it wanted to prevent Kyiv joining NATO — a prospect that Ukraine and the Western alliance have called a pretext to start the fighting and that they say was not going to happen.Since the full-scale offensive, Kyiv has said that joining the Western alliance would protect it from future Russian attacks.Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukrainian membership in the bloc.Ushakov said the issue was “key” at the talks.Zelensky’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov held a lengthy meeting with European security advisors on Wednesday as the Kyiv team was expected to meet Trump’s envoys later.”I gave my colleagues a detailed update on the negotiations in Geneva and Florida, and on the next steps in the diplomatic process,” Umerov said.”It’s important that Europe stays an active part of this,” he added.Zelensky has said that any peace deal for the conflict should make sure Moscow will not attack again.Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, which has killed thousands, has also been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent at home unseen since the Soviet era. 

Equities struggled on Wednesday as data showed US businesses unexpectedly shed jobs last month.The US private sector lost 32,000 jobs in November, according to payroll firm ADP, compared to a small gain expected by analysts.The jobs numbers reinforced concerns over the health of the US economy, which has struggled with dislocations and price rises caused by tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration.”There’s no way to portray that as good news, unless, of course, you’re a stock trader who is focused more on the likelihood for Fed cuts than you are about what it says about the economy,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.After opening lower, all three of Wall Street’s main indices had pushed into positive territory by mid-morning, with the jobs figures underpinning expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid back into the red.”The modest fall in the ADP payrolls measure in November… should be enough to persuade the FOMC to vote for another cut next week,” said Stephen Brown at Capital Economics.Money markets now put the chances of the Fed cutting interest rates on December 10 at nearly 90 percent.Lower interest rates make it easier for companies and consumers to borrow money, so the prospect of Fed rate cuts tends to boost stocks.Optimism over US rate cuts won an additional boost from reports that Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett — a proponent of more rate reductions — is the frontrunner to take the helm at the Fed when Jerome Powell’s tenure ends in May.Investors are also looking ahead to the release on Friday of the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation — the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index.Investors see the Fed cutting rates three times next year, which has been a factor weighing on the dollar.The euro hit a seven-week high against the dollar, noted analyst Axel Rudolph at trading platform IG. “The US central bank is expected to cut rates in December with a near 89 percent probability whereas the ECB isn’t likely to do so for much of next year,” he said.Meanwhile the pound gained one percent against the dollar, also receiving a boost from data showing stronger than expected activity from the UK services sector.Stronger sterling weighed on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index, which features major companies earning in dollars, and which ended the day down 0.1 percent.A recovery in Bitcoin has also helped support equity markets.”A continued bounce in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has stoked a renewed speculative bid,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Bitcoin is back above $90,000. It plunged below $83,000 last month after having set a record high of $126,251 in October.Asian stock markets mostly rose Wednesday.Elsewhere, the Indian rupee weakened past 90 per dollar for the first time, extending declines through the year as New Delhi struggles to strike a trade deal with the United States.- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 47,685.20 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.1 percent at 6,837.46New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,402.90London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,692.07 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,087.42 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,693.71 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 49,864.68 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 25,760.73 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,878.00 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1664 from $1.1622 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3341 from $1.3209Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.03 yen from 155.86 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.43 pence from 88.00 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $63.19 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $59.47 per barrelburs-rl/rlp