Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump envoys land in Moscow as US pushes for Putin to accept 30-day ceasefire

Ukrainian forces are rapidly losing ground in the Kursk region amid a major Russian offensive to recapture land which Kyiv hoped could be a crucial bargaining chip in peace negotiations.

In an attempt to divert Russian forces from the brutal frontlines in eastern Ukraine – and embarrass Vladimir Putin – Ukraine smashed across the border into the Kursk region in August, the biggest attack on Russian territory since the Nazi invasion of 1941.

Putin visited the western region for the first time since its seizure on Wednesday, in a sign of the confidence Moscow has that they will retake complete control of the region.

Read why Russia’s recapture of Kursk matters to Ukraine:

Russian forces will soon complete the task of clearing out Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, Moscow officials said on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces have held a pocket of territory for more than seven months after springing one of the biggest shocks of the war when it staged an incursion into Russian territory last August. But its control in the region has come to an end after a rapid Russian advance over the past week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Russian troops would take "as long as necessary to save the maximum number of lives of our military and civilians. But there is no doubt that the Kursk region will be liberated soon enough”.

Top army commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that Kyiv's troops would keep operating in Kursk as long as needed and that fighting continued in and around Sudzha.

Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, reporting from Sudzha, said: "The town is constantly being hit by enemy artillery, but focal resistance has been suppressed."

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Ukraine’s partners not to let Russia and Vladimir Putin “deceive” them over a ceasefire.

The Ukraine president issued his warning in a video address on Wednesday evening (12 March).

It came following breakthrough talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Saudi Arabia, with Kyiv saying it was ready to accept a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

President Zelensky said: “The key factor is our partners’ ability to ensure Russia’s readiness not to deceive but to genuinely end the war.”

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Any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine would be unacceptable for Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Moscow has repeatedly stated this stance since European countries - led by British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron - have put forward proposals for tens of thousands of European peacekeeping troops stationed in Ukraine.

Russia would respond with all available means if troops were deployed in Ukraine, Zakharova said, adding that it would mean direct involvement of these countries with Russia.

The chances of Vladimir Putin upholding a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine are “close to nil” European officials fear, with one warning that it could last just 30 minutes.

Ukraine agreed to a 30-day truce after talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. But while the world waits for the response from the Kremlin, current and former officials across Europe have told The Independent Moscow would try and extract as much as possible from the US for any agreement – and then violate it anyway.

One senior official from Lithuania – one of the Baltic nations which fears Mr Putin’s invasion could be extended to their border – said: “What for us, Ukraine or the US, is 30 days could be just 30 minutes for Russia.”

Tom Watling and world affairs editor Sam Kiley with the report:

EU plans to hike defence spending amounts to “incitement of war”, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

The European Commission drafted plans to borrow up to 150 billion euros and loosen fiscal rules, allowing EU countries to ramp up defence expenditure as it looks to lower its security dependence on the US.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Commission, says the plans could mobilise up to 800 billion euros.

This amounts to “the incitement of war on the European continent”, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

She accused Eyripe of spreading falsehoods about the Russian threat: “This is a deliberately invented story based on Russophobia which is promoted by inadequate Brussels officials."

Russian forces have retaken control of the major town of Sudzha in its western Kursk region, Moscow’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

Sudzha was one of the most important towns under Ukrainian control following its lightning incursion last August.

The ministry also claimed its troops had recaptured two other villages, Melovoi and Podol, claims which have not been independently verified.

DeepState, an authoritative online battlefield map, shows most of Sudzha to be under Russian control.

Moscow is ready to discuss with Washington the peace initiative agreed between the US and Ukraine as early as today, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.

"We are ready to discuss the initiatives set out there in future contacts with the United States. Such contacts are already possible as early as today," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

A plane reportedly carrying US special envoy Steve Witkoff - who is due to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin today - landed in Moscow within the last half hour.

Kyiv has said it is ready to accept a 30-day ceasefire and the US is now putting the proposal to Moscow.

Chief international correspondent Bel Trew writes:

Flanked by minefields, with the deadly percussion of shelling in the background, we made our way cautiously into recently liberated Kherson.

This was November 2022, in the southeastern corner of Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces had launched a successful counteroffensive against Russia to reclaim land lost in Moscow’s full-scale invasion. At the time, it was the latest in a string of stunning wins by the Ukrainians, who, against the odds, were pushing Russia back.

Like other recently liberated cities, dazed residents emerged from their homes for the first time in months—with the same stories of disappearances, detentions, torture, and death.

A plane which appears to be the one carrying US special envoy Steve Witkoff was seen approaching Moscow on an online flight map.

The Gulfstream G650 aircraft, which took off from Hamad International Airport in Doha and is carrying Mr Witkoff according to Russian state news agency TASS, has now landed at Moscow airport according to flight tracking website Flight Radar.