Russia yet to decide on Ukraine truce deal

MOSCOW — The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would review details from Washington about a proposal for a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine before responding, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hoped a deal would be struck within days.

As Moscow considered the plan, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday made a visit to Russia's Kursk region for the first time since Ukrainian troops captured part of it last year.

Valery Gerasimov, head of Russia's General Staff, told Putin that his troops had repelled Ukrainian forces from 86 percent of the ground they once held in Kursk. Ukraine had hoped to use that territory as a bargaining chip in any peace talks with Moscow.

Meanwhile, US officials have landed in Moscow for talks over the Ukraine crisis, Russian media reported on Thursday.

The team was headed by US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to TASS news agency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that contacts had been planned with US negotiators.

Peskov said that Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz talked over the phone on Wednesday, adding that "certain information" was provided to Russia during the conversation.

The United States on Tuesday agreed to resume weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said, during talks in Saudi Arabia, that it was ready to support a cease-fire proposal.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was carefully studying the results of that meeting and awaiting details from the US.

Rubio said the United States was hoping for a positive response. Two people familiar with the matter said Russia has presented Washington with a list of demands for a deal to end the Ukraine conflict and reset relations with the US.

Rubio said Europe would have to be involved in any security guarantee for Ukraine.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed this week's meeting in Saudi Arabia as constructive, and said a potential 30-day cease-fire with Russia could be used to draft a broader peace deal.

Kyiv's forces have been on the verge of losing their foothold in Kursk. Their main supply lines were cut and they ceded control of the town of Sudzha.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, said on Telegram that Russia's advances in Ukraine must be taken into account in any deal. "Real agreements are still being written there, at the front. Which they should understand in Washington too," he said.

Agencies - Xinhua