Kremlin slaps down US-proposed ceasefire, saying it would only benefit Ukraine's army as Trump's team arrives in Moscow for peace talks

Vladimir Putin is showing no sign of bowing to pressure to accept Washington's ceasefire proposal, with leading voices in the Kremlin warning the Russian dictator that it will only serve to benefit Ukraine.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov expressed his opposition to the proposed US deal, saying that it would give breathing space to Ukrainian forces at a time when Moscow is close to fully retaking territory in its Kursk region from Kyiv's forces.

Discussing the ceasefire proposal, Ushakov said in a TV interview: 'I have stated our position that this is nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more.'

'It seems to me that no one needs any steps that (merely) imitate peaceful actions in this situation,' he added dismissively.

His comments came as Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow this morning to try to convince Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine agreed to earlier this week in crunch talks with the US. 

In another sign that an agreement remains a distant prospect, Putin mouthpieces have warned that the deployment of peacekeepers in Ukraine would amount to a 'direct armed conflict' with Moscow, and that it would respond to such a move by 'all available means'.

Ukraine has asked its European allies to deploy military 'contingents' on its territory once the three-year conflict ends, to protect against future attacks from Russia.

France and the UK have suggested they could deploy peacekeeping forces, but Moscow has balked at this idea - either as part of a ceasefire or as a long-term security guarantee for Ukraine.

'It is absolutely unacceptable to us that army units of other states are stationed in Ukraine under any flag,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

'Be it a foreign contingent and a military base... all this would mean the involvement of these countries in a direct armed conflict with our country,' she added.

Her comments came as US negotiators travelled to Russia to present their plan for a 30-day truce in Ukraine, after receiving Kyiv's backing earlier this week.

The US is currently acting as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, with President Trump revealing last night that American envoys were on their way to Moscow to present a potential ceasefire plan to the Kremlin.

The proposal for a 30-day ceasefire has still not been accepted by Moscow, which has shown no sign of letting up in its three-year war in Ukraine, with heavy aerial bombardments in the days since the plan was announced.

Putin last night visited the Russian region of Kursk for the first time since Ukrainian forces seized parts of it in August. The Kremlin announced this morning that the operation to eject Kyiv's forces was now in its final stage.

The Russian dictator's rare appearance in military fatigues was seen as a signal he aims to go on with the war, and today Poland - worried about the Kremlin's continued threat - revealed it has asked the US to base nuclear weapons on its territory.

As Washington continues to push for a truce, documents from an influential Kremlin-linked thinktank, obtained by the Washington Post, suggest that Russia has been working to undermine a possible peace deal since at least February. 

It appears that some measures in the document, reportedly written by an influential Moscow-based thinktank the week before the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia in late February, have already informed the thinking of the Russian state. 

The document, written for the FSB's Fifth Service, the security service division that oversees operations in Ukraine, lays out the ways in which Russia could boost its standing by inflaming tensions between the US and both China and the EU. 

The US has twice sided with Russia at UN votes, in a stark reversal of Washington's foreign policy which has worried allies.

The first instance was at the General assembly where it opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow's actions and reaffirming Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The second was at the Security Council where the US drafted and voted for a resolution that called for the end of Russia's invasion without criticising Russia. 

The pro-Kremlin thinktank's document argues that against this backdrop, Russia should be working towards 'the complete dismantling' of the current Ukrainian government. 

Putin has skirted the issue of a ceasefire ahead of talks with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff - whose plane was mapped heading to Moscow today - and has instead set his troops the task of grabbing back territory in Kursk. 

Last night, the Russian army said it had captured hundreds of Ukrainian troops fighting in the region, where Ukraine mounted its surprise counteroffensive last summer.

Speaking as he met with troops in Kursk, Putin vowed to treat hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk as 'terrorists', potentially jailing them for decades, and not as prisoners of war who can be exchanged.

Footage shows such troops humiliated by being ordered to parrot 'Hail to Russia' - illegal under the rules of war. He also made clear he wanted a demilitarised zone on Ukraine's border.

Putin's ambassador to London, Andrey Kelin, insisted that the Kremlin will approach a ceasefire - which it has previously ruled out - 'with a lot of caution'.

Putin will insist on conditions as 'broad and similar to the demands it had previously made to Ukraine, the US and NATO', but such demands have until now been seen as crippling Ukraine and being unacceptable.

Last night, Russia's foreign minister said British plans to lead a stabilisation force in post-conflict Ukraine will be protecting the country's 'Nazi regime'.

In a bizarre outburst from Moscow hours after Ukraine's largest drone attack of the war struck the capital, Sergei Lavrov said: 'What will the peacekeepers protect? The remnants of the Kyiv Nazi regime?'

The Post reported that the document also said the Kremlin ought to reject plans for peacekeepers in Ukraine, as many in Europe have proposed, as they would be under 'serious Western influence'. 

Meanwhile, US plans to continue arming Ukraine were 'absolutely unacceptable', as is maintaining Ukraine's million-strong army at its current level, according to the document. 

It also suggests that Russia ought to push for Ukraine to be carved up even further, with the creation of a buffer zone in the country's northeast, which touches Russian territory, as well as a demilitarised zone near Crimea, which Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in 2014. 

The document dismissed Trump's preliminary plans for a Ukraine peace deal to be reached within 100 days as 'impossible to realise', and suggested that peace 'cannot happen before 2026.' 

The thinktank wrote that Russia could boost its negotiating position by proposing American companies being allowed to develop rare earth minerals in Russia and in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. 

The document was written in the week before Russia and the US sat down in Saudi Arabia for key talks that Ukraine was not party to. 

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as the February talks went on, Donald Trump mocked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for complaining that Ukraine was being frozen out. 

Trump said: 'Today I heard, 'Oh, we weren't invited'. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years [ago] – you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.'

But according to Kremlin sources, the Russian President is the one wants to drag out the peace process so he can seize more Ukrainian territory.

Russia holds the upper hand militarily with its troops outnumbering their Western-backed adversaries and making deepening inroads into eastern Ukraine.

The Russian president believes the 30-day pause is 'unacceptable', and is expected to hinder peace talks with his own unreasonable demands. 

Given that Putin holds a majority of the cards, Russian officials believe he will be able to succeed in this endeavour.  

A senior Russian source told Reuters: 'It is difficult for Putin to agree to this in its current form.

'Putin has a strong position because Russian is advancing', they added.  

Last night, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was important not to 'get [too far] ahead' regarding Russia's response to ceasefire proposals.

He claimed Moscow was awaiting 'detailed information' about the ceasefire from the US, which had to be studied before a decision could be taken.

One of Putin's demands is likely to be a halt for future military support for Kyiv, Bloomberg reported.

When asked what the U.S. could do to pressure Russia into peace, he said: 'There are things that wouldn't be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace.' 

Trump added: 'In a financial sense, yes, we could do things that would be very bad for Russia, that would be devastating for Russia. But I don't want to do that.' 

Europe is also exerting pressure on the Kremlin to accept the deal.  

Speaking in Paris last night, following a meeting with European counterparts, the UK's Defence Secretary sent a powerful message to Vladimir Putin saying it was 'Over to you now'.

John Healey MP called on the Kremlin chief to 'accept the ceasefire, start negotiations and end the war. Make no mistake, the pressure is now on Putin..'

He added: 'This year the UK will spend £4.5 billion the highest ever. While the United Kingdom and France are driving the push for peace and the arrangements for security guarantees for Ukraine.

'We are cooperating closely with partner nations from Europe and beyond and from today we are accelerating that work. Yesterday, military chiefs from 34 nations met here in Paris in meetings which were attended for more than an hour by President Macron.

'While the UK's Prime Minister will host another meeting on Saturday while military chiefs will resume their discussions next week.'