Kremlin denies Ukraine talks with Trump - as expert warns things 'not looking good' for Kyiv

Kyiv and its allies fear Trump will give in to Moscow's demands in order to create peace, which include Ukraine ending its march towards NATO membership and giving up its territory currently occupied by Russian forces. Mark Galeotti, senior associate fellow at defence think tank RUSI and the author of We Need To Talk About Putin, says such a deal could end up being a temporary ceasefire. "If we're talking about a deal that is imposed, or at least I say facilitated, within a matter of months, it almost certainly would have to be an ugly peace deal in which essentially Ukraine is trading land for peace," he says. "But more to the point, this could well just simply end up being a temporary ceasefire. The question is, what would stop Putin regrouping his forces and coming back for another round when he thinks that the time is right?"