The Russian Defence Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, hours after President Vladimir Putin visited his commanders in Kursk and wore military fatigues, could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the claim.
The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops came as US President Donald Trump presses for a diplomatic end to the war.
The US on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior US and Ukrainian officials made progress on how to stop the fighting during talks held in Saudi Arabia.
Trump said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) 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 won’t engage with peace efforts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that US negotiators were on their way to Russia, but he wouldn’t 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.
Senior US officials say they hope to see Russia stop attacks on Ukraine within the next few days.
But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said in televised remarks that a ceasefire would offer a “temporary break for the Ukrainian military”.
Ushakov said Moscow wants a “long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account Moscow’s interests and concerns”.
It came a day after a phone call with US national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Ushakov’s comments echoed statements from Putin, who has repeatedly said a temporary ceasefire would benefit Ukraine and its Western allies.
By signalling its openness to a ceasefire, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war — 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 a 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.
Speaking to commanders on Thursday, Putin said he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future”.
Putin added that in the future “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 glum news from the front line, as well as draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamic of the war.
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The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed late on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha.
Ukraine’s top military head, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Thursday that Russian aviation 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 it was “manoeuvring (troops) to more advantageous lines”.
Meanwhile, Major General 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 Thursday.
He told the outlet he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet”.