The big picture: What you need to know as the war enters a new week By Ollie Cooper, live news reporter Events continue to move quickly both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table - so here's everything you need to know ahead of a new week regarding the war in Ukraine. Here's a quick look at the latest battlefield picture... Kursk back in Moscow's grasp - or is it? On Saturday, Russia claimed to have retaken its Kursk region. The chief of Russia's general staff General Valery Gerasimov told Vladimir Putin that troops had seized the last Ukrainian-held settlement. A senior Russian general told Putin on Sunday that his troops would sweep up and "destroy" any "scattered remnants" of Ukrainian units. If it is indeed back in Moscow's grasp, it takes an important bargaining chip out of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hands. But Kyiv said it was still successfully holding Russian forces off and held ground. "Our forces continue active defensive operations in designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday. It's not been possible to verify whether Ukraine still holds viable ground in Kursk, but here's the latest map from the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has not confirmed that Russia has complete control... In Russia it's being hailed as a great victory, but many pro-Kremlin commentators seem to have forgotten that Ukraine still holds Russian soil up the road in Belgorod... A complicated picture at the negotiating table The overwhelming takeaway is that we aren't really any closer to an actionable peace deal, despite a lot of high-level meetings, discussion and speculation. Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's peace envoy travelled to Russia for his fourth meeting with Vladimir Putin. The meeting took place amid massive Russian airstrikes across Ukraine, and a car bombing in Moscow that killed a top general. After reporting back to his boss, Trump said Ukraine and Russia were "very close to a deal" with "most of the major points agreed" - and called for the two sides to meet. But his tone quickly switched, as he said was not happy with Putin for strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine. A 'miracle' meeting Then came the headline news - Trump and Zelenskyy's impromptu meeting inside the very heart of the Vatican. The Ukrainian leader made considerable use of the diplomatic opportunity the funeral of Pope Francis presented - with few events gathering as many world leaders as a service celebrating the life of a pontiff. Before the funeral took place, Zelenskyy spoke with the US leader in St Peter's Basilica. Zelenskyy hailed the discussion " very symbolic" with the "potential to become historic" - adding he was "hoping for results" on what the pair discussed. A clergyman told Sky News the meeting was being dubbed "Pope Francis's miracle" in religious circles. As for the American side of things, it appears the chat spurred Trump into a verbal jab at his Russian counterpart. The US president also questioned Vladimir Putin's appetite for peace. Read about that meeting here. US could still walk away Despite the lingering optimism surrounding a potential peace deal, there remains a very real possibility the US could walk away from mediation efforts. Zelenskyy has made it clear that he will not formally concede Crimea as Russian territory - something seen as critical to Russia - with Trump suggesting that Kyiv keeping hold of the territory that Russia has illegally occupied since 2014 would be "ridiculous". That's one of several conditions that could stall a potential deal, and Marco Rubio again repeated claims at the weekend that Washington would happily walk away should a deal not be concluded in the very near future. Should Washington walk away, it's not clear what that would mean for weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Officials in Kyiv have, however, indicated that they would fight on no matter what the US does (or more likely doesn't) do.