Russia said Thursday that his troops have expelled the Ukrainian army outside the largest city in the Kursk border region of Russia, since a senior Kremlin official said that a high 30 -day fire proposed by the United States in the United States in the war three years after the large -scale invasion of Ukraine would help kyiv when giving his clothes and a military break.
The affirmation of the Ministry of Defense of Russia recaptured the city of Sudzha, hours after President Vladimir Putin visited his commanders in Kursk and used military torks, could not be verified independently. Ukrainian officials did not make immediate comments on the claim.
The renewed Russian military thrust and Putin's high profile visit to his troops occurred when the president of the United States, Donald Trump, presses for a diplomatic end of the war. The United States raised its suspension of military aid on March 3 for kyiv after the senior US and Ukrainian officials made progress on how to stop fighting during the conversations held in Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Wednesday that “now it is up to Russia,” since his administration pressures Moscow to accept the fire. The president of the United States has made evening threats of hitting Russia with new sanctions if it does not get involved with peace efforts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that American negotiators were heading to Russia, but would not comment on Moscow's opinion on the proposal of Alto El Fuego.
“Before the conversations begin, and they have not started yet, it would be a mistake to talk about that in public,” he told reporters.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz spoke Wednesday with his Russian counterpart. He also confirmed that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff will go to Moscow to talk to Russian officials, possibly including Putin.
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Russian news agencies reported Thursday that Witkoff's plane had landed in Moscow. Immediately it was not possible to verify the reports.
High American officials say they hope to see Russia stop attacks against Ukraine in the next few days.
But Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy advisor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, complained in televised comments on Thursday that a high fire would grant a “temporary break for the Ukrainian army.”
Ushakov said that Moscow wants a “long -term peaceful agreement that takes into account Moscow's interests and concerns.” His comments arrived a day after his phone call with Waltz.
Ushakov's comments echoed Putin's statements, who has repeatedly said that a temporary fire would benefit Ukraine already its western allies.
The United States still has about $ 3.85 billion in authorized funds with Congress for future shipments of weapons to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has not shown interest so far in the use of that authority to send additional weapons while waiting for the result of the Oberturas de la Paz.
When pointing its opening to a high fire, Ukraine has presented a dilemma to Kremlin at a time when the Russian army has the advantage in the war, either to accept a truce and abandon the hopes of obtaining new profits, or rejecting the offer and risking to derail a cautious relief with Washington.
The support point of the Ukrainian army within Russia has been under intense pressure for months of a renewed effort of Russian forces, backed by North Korea's troops. The daring incursion of Ukraine last August led to the first occupation of the Russian soil for foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Speaking to the commanders on Wednesday, Putin said he expected the military to “completely release the enemy's Kursk region in the nearest future.”
Putin added that in the future “it is necessary to think about creating a security zone together with the state border”, in a sign that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of the Sumy neighboring region of Ukraine. That idea could complicate a high fire agreement.
Ukraine launched the raid in an attempt to counteract the news incessantly from the front line, as well as away from the Russian troops of the battlefield inside Ukraine and obtain a negotiation chip in any peace conversation. But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamics of war.
The War Study Institute, a group of Washington -based experts, evaluated on Wednesday night that the Russian forces had control of Sudzha, a city near the border that was previously home to about 5,000 people.
The main military chief of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Wednesday night that Russian aviation had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes in Kursk and that, as a result, Sudzha had almost completely destroyed. He did not comment if Ukraine still controlled the settlement, but said it was “maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.”
Meanwhile, Major General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of the North Ukraine Operational Command, including the Kursk region, was fired from his position, Sospilne's Ukrainian media on Wednesday told Wednesday. He said to the exit that he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying: “I guess, but I still don't want to talk about that.”
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