A brief ceasefire would be "nothing more than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military," a senior Kremlin aide said on Thursday.

Russian forces have recaptured Sudzha, the largest town that Ukraine once occupied in the Kursk region, according to Moscow, threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining chip amid pressure to negotiate an end to the war.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, tearfully announced at a conference that "due to Ukrainian attacks in Russia" since 2014, 1,700 children have been killed or injured. She did not mention that it was Russia that initiated the war,

President Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy aide said on Thursday a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States to pause the war in Ukraine would give Russia "nothing" while gifting Kyiv's forces a much-needed battlefield respite.

Kyiv made peace with the Trump administration by agreeing to an immediate ceasefire in its war against Russian invaders