Moscow: An envoy of US President Donald Trump arrived Thursday in Moscow for talks on an American-proposed 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has accepted, but a senior Russian official said the truce would only help Kyiv by giving its weary and shorthanded military a break.
The diplomatic effort coincided with a Russian claim that its troops have driven the Ukrainian army out of a key town in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has been trying for seven months to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their foothold.
A US official confirmed the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment on the matter.
The Russian Defence Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, a Ukrainian operational hub in Kursk, came hours after President Vladimir Putin visited his commanders in Kursk. The claim could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops unfolded as Trump seeks a diplomatic end to the war, which began more than three years ago with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The US on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior US and Ukrainian officials reported making progress on how to stop the fighting during talks in Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Wednesday that “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The US president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it does not engage with peace efforts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on Moscow’s view of the ceasefire proposal.
“Before the talks start, and they haven’t started yet, it would be wrong to talk about it in public,” he told reporters.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Thursday that Trump is “willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides,” including sanctions that reach the highest scale on Russia.
Senior US officials have said they hope to see Russia stop attacks on Ukraine within the next few days.
Russia complains about ceasefire proposal Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, complained in televised remarks Thursday that a ceasefire would grant a “temporary break for the Ukrainian military.” Speaking later to reporters in the Kremlin, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, reaffirmed that the proposed ceasefire would “give us nothing,” adding that it would “only give the Ukrainians a chance to regroup, consolidate their forces and keep doing the same in the future.” Ushakov would not comment on Witkoff’s talks in Moscow, saying that the parties agreed to keep them confidential.
He said Russia wants a “long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account Moscow’s interests and concerns.” His comments echoed statements from Putin, who has repeatedly said a temporary ceasefire would benefit Ukraine and its Western allies.
Ukraine has levelled accusations similar to Ushakov’s, claiming Russia would use a truce to regroup and rearm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided Russia on the Telegram messaging app Thursday for what he said was its slow response to the ceasefire proposal, accusing Moscow of trying to delay any peace deal. He said that Ukraine is “determined to move quickly toward peace” and hoped US pressure would compel Russia to stop fighting.
The US still has about USD 3.85 billion in congressionally authorised funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has shown no interest so far in using that authority to send additional weapons as it awaits the outcome of peace overtures.
By signalling its openness to a ceasefire at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma – whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains, or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from the renewed effort by Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops. Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Putin visits Russian military commanders Speaking to commanders Wednesday, Putin said that he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.” Wearing military fatigues, Putin added that “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border,” in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighbouring Sumy region. That idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.
Ukraine launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly grim news from the front line, as well as to draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and to gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamic of the war.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed late Wednesday that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha, a town close to the border that previously was home to about 5,000 people.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russian aircraft had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that as a result Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement but said his country was “maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.”
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday. He told the outlet that he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by GPlus’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
