President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday to begin discussions with the Kremlin on a U.S.-brokered 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, which Kyiv has already agreed to, as Russian forces continued their offensive to retake territory captured by the Ukrainian military last year.
Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East, speaks to the press outside of the White House.
According to Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti, Witkoff arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport from Qatar and the Kremlin’s top spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “contacts” with him are planned.
Peskov noted that formal discussion on the Ukraine ceasefire has not begun and Russia will determine its position on the matter after receiving a briefing from U.S. officials on the talks between the Trump administration and Kyiv in Jeddah earlier this week.
Ahead of Witkoff’s arrival, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the region of Kursk—parts of which were taken over by Ukraine in a surprise offensive last year.
Putin, dressed in military fatigues for the first time in several years, called on his forces to press their military advantage and swiftly recapture the lost territory—while Ukraine signaled it plans to draw back forces from the region.
On Thursday, Russian forces announced the recapture of Sudzha, the biggest town in Kursk’s border region.
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In a possible sign of what stance Russia may take during the peace talks, Peskov told reporters the Kremlin expects its military to retake all of Kursk “fairly soon.” But the spokesperson also said Russian troops will take “as much time as is necessary” to capture the region safely while keeping troop and civilian casualties low. This potentially means a quick ceasefire may be unlikely. Peskov also dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s comments about how his country will not accept the annexation of any territory, and said the occupied Ukrainian regions of “Crimea, Sevastopol, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are Russian…they are in the Russian constitution.
On Tuesday, Washington and Kyiv issued a joint statement which said Ukraine was prepared to accept an “immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war.” The statement, which came after a meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah on Tuesday, mentioned the ceasefire can be extended if both sides agree to additional terms. Secretary of State Marco Rubio then told reporters, “we’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope that they’ll say yes… the ball is now in their court.” In return for Ukraine agreeing to the proposal, the U.S. said it will immediately remove its pause on intelligence sharing and security assistance, which was put in place last week after a public blow-up between Zelenskyy and Trump. Russia’s initial reaction to the idea was guarded, as Peskov said, “We are examining the statements made following the negotiations.”
Russia ‘Examining’ 30-Day Ukraine Ceasefire Plan Backed By Trump Administration (Forbes)