On March 12th Vladimir Putin donned military camouflage to visit his troops in the Kursk region, where his forces seem to be in the final stages of pushing out Ukrainian soldiers from the territory they occupied last August, to huge Russian embarrassment. This TV set-piece, endlessly replayed, was Mr Putin’s first response to Ukraine’s offer of a 30-day ceasefire that had been sealed by America at negotiations in Jeddah a day earlier. As The Economist went to press, Russia was still to disclose its official verdict, but America has restarted the flow of arms and intelligence to Ukraine. The offer has put the ball in Mr Putin’s court, American and Ukrainian officials said. Mr Putin will no doubt whack it back with a counter-proposal.