US officials landed in Moscow to discuss a potential ceasefire with Ukraine.
Steve Witkoff special envoy arrived on Thursday morning to try to convince Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine accepted earlier this week in talks with the United States.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said discussions were planned with the United States, but added: “Do not have to lead to ourselves, we will tell you about it later.”
The American visit comes as the Russian army claimed to have resumed Sudzha – a key city in the Kursk region that Ukraine invaded last year in a surprise attack.
President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk on Wednesday and met with military commanders, who told him that Russian troops had taken up 86% of the region and were in the last stage of the conduct of the Ukrainian forces.
After the talks between the United States and Ukraine in Djeddah on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was now dependent on the United States to convince Russia to accept the “positive” proposal.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the “ball is really in their [Russia’s] Court “and that the United States believes that the only way to end the fighting was through peace negotiations.
The Kremlin said he was studying the ceasefire agreement and that a telephone call between Trump and Putin was possible.
Trump said on Wednesday that he had received “positive messages” on the possibility of a ceasefire.
“But a positive message does not mean anything,” he said. “This is a very serious situation.”
Trump did not specify which officials were going to Moscow.
However, press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists from the White House that National Security Secretary Mike Waltz spoke to her Russian counterpart.
“We urge the Russians to connect to this plan. It is closest to peace in this war,” said Leavitt.
In the oval office, Trump said he thought that a cease -fire would make sense to Russia, adding – without further details – that there is also a “a lot of decline” for Russia.
“We have a very complex situation resolved on one side. Above resolved. We have also discussed the earth and other things that go with it,” added Trump. “We know the earth areas we are talking about, whether back or not.”
To put pressure on Russia, Trump said that he “could do things financially.”
“It would be very bad for Russia,” he said. “I don’t want to do this because I want to have peace.”
The meeting in Djeddah was the first between American and Ukrainian officials since a meeting on February 28 between Zelensky, Trump and Vice-President JD Vance went down in a cry match and, ultimately, a break in American military assistance and intelligence sharing.
The break was raised after the meeting in Djeddah, and Trump said he thought that the “difficult” Ukrainian side and Zelensky now wanted peace.
Even if negotiations on a potential ceasefire are underway, the fighting has raged in Ukraine.
Russian drones and missiles would have reached targets in Kryvyy Rih – The hometown of Zelensky – during the night, as well as in the port city of Odesa, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
The clashes also continued in the Kursk Russia region, where Peskov said that Russian troops “successfully advanced” and recap the areas held by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian troops have invaded the region of West Russia which borders Ukraine, in a surprise attack in August of last year. To its peak, Ukraine said it had captured 100 cities and villages – But since then, Russia has taken over the majority of this territory.
The Russian media report that Putin ordered the soldiers to “fully free up” the region during the visit. He has not yet commented on the ceasefire proposal agreed by Ukraine and the United States on Tuesday.
Ukrainian army leader Oleksandr Syrsky also said on Wednesday that some of his troops withdrew from Kursk. In an article on Telegram, he said: “In the most difficult situation, my priority was and remains to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.”
