The Kremlin said there are reasons to be optimistic about a settlement to the conflict but that more work needs to be done.

Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, has arrived in Moscow to discuss a proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. But Russian officials do not seem keen to agree to the deal.

Terrible though it is, Ukraine’s forced withdrawal from Kursk makes peace negotiations with Russia more likely. Indeed had Putin not been able to drive the Ukrainian army out, he is unlikely to have even contemplated peace talks.

August 6, 2024: Ukrainian troops smash across the border in the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two. The incursion hands Ukraine its biggest battlefield gains since 2022, after months on the back foot. Russia rushes in reserve troops, and nearly 200,000 Russian civilians are forced to flee their homes.

Ukrainian troops sprang one of the biggest surprises of the war by invading Russia's Kursk region last August, and Russia has taken more than seven months to eject them.