Russia-Ukraine updates: Kyiv wants ‘strong’ US steps if Moscow nixes truce

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For more context on the conflict, read our story about what Ukraine’s acceptance of the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire could mean here.

Or see how Russians are responding to the latest developments here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of today’s top events:

• Russia said it is studying a US ceasefire proposal that Ukraine has already accepted, as US officials head to Moscow for talks.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said he expects “strong steps” from the US against Russia if Moscow does not accept the proposal.
• Trump said there had been “positive messages” on the effort, stressing that reaching a truce is now “up to Russia”.
• Russia has claimed major gains in the Kursk region, as Ukrainian military officials said forces may have to be relocated to save lives.
• European defence ministers promised to increase cooperation, as the UK said it is “accelerating” building a coalition of the willing to ensure Ukrainian security.

The Kremlin has released footage of what it said was Putin’s visit to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have been fighting inside Russia for months.

The Russian president was dressed in military fatigue as he met army officials.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican foreign policy hawk, lauds Trump’s efforts to halt the fighting in Ukraine.

“I am extremely skeptical that Russia will accept the ceasefire and I am very doubtful they want to end this war. Zelensky has passed the test of wanting peace. It is now up to Putin to show his cards,” Graham wrote in a social media post.

“In order to move toward peace, I will be introducing bone-breaking sanctions and tariffs against Russia before the end of the week. If they do not pursue the ceasefire with the same vigor as Ukraine, there will be hell to pay.”

The state-run news agency RIA has reported the flight involved two Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, citing the Defence Ministry.

It said fighter jets from foreign countries accompanied the Russian planes during certain stages of their flight, which lasted more than four hours, without specifying which countries.

All countries that border the waters – Sweden, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia  – are members of NATO.

Russian jets were repeatedly intercepted over the Baltic last year in what analysts have described as both surveillance missions and acts of defiance against the bloc.

Lisa Murkowski says it is “necessary” for the US to continue to support Ukraine in the conflict against Russia.

“We all want this war to end, but it cannot end on Russia’s terms. If it does, we should expect nothing more than a temporary respite before the resumption of hostilities,” Murkowski wrote in a social media post. “The appeasement of tyrants does not bring peace.”

Top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyii has said Russian forces are seeking to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk and bring the heaviest fighting back to Ukrainian territory.

“The enemy is using assault units of airborne troops and special operations forces to break through our defence, push our troops out of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation and transfer combat operations to the territory of Sumy and Kharkiv regions,” Syrskyii said.

He added that Russia has suffered heavy losses while trying to “achieve political goals at any cost”.

The military official said that Russian military jets have pounded the outskirts of Sudzha, saying troops would move to “more favourable positions” if it was needed to save lives. He added that Ukrainian forces would hold territory in the Kursk region “as long as it is appropriate and necessary”.

The Russian president was filmed visiting troops in the Kursk region, where Ukraine had launched its first major incursion into Russian territory in August of last year.

Putin said that any fighters captured in the Kursk region would be treated as “terrorists” and would not be protected under the Geneva Convention’s provisions for prisoners of war, the state-run RIA news agency reported.

Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, meanwhile, said that Russian forces had retaken about 1,100sq km (386sq miles) of territory in the border region, including 24 settlements over the past five days.

The Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War also said in its most recent update that there had been “confirmed advances” in Kursk, with Russian forces approaching the strategic city of Sudzha.

The US president says Washington can take “devastating” steps against the Russian economy.

“I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”

Last week, Trump also threatened to impose “large-scale” sanctions and tariffs against Russia.

Moscow is already under heavy sanctions by Washington and its allies.

European Union defence ministers have been meeting in Paris to discuss support for Ukraine.

At a joint news conference, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said about 15 countries have expressed interest in discussing a new security “architecture” for Ukraine.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, meanwhile, called for a more unified European approach to defence procurement, saying there was no time for “superfluous and costly” bureaucracy.

For his part, UK Defence Minister John Healey said the country’s prime minister will host a summit of leaders next week. He added that London was “accelerating” efforts to build a “coalition of the willing” to ensure Ukraine’s security.

The US president says Ukraine may have been the “more difficult party” to deal with to resolve the conflict.

“You were here a week ago when some interesting things happened,” he told reporters referring to his contentious meeting with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy late in February. “I had somebody that didn’t seem to want peace. Now he’s agreed to peace. So we’ll see what happens.”

Speaking during a White House meeting with Trump and Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the US vice president has expressed hope about reaching a truce as US officials travel to Russia to discuss the ceasefire proposal.

“We’ve got some conversations that are happening on the phone and in person over the next couple of days,” Vance said.

“We think we’re in a very good place where the Ukrainians have agreed to a ceasefire and we’re now going to see whether we can get the Russians to agree to a ceasefire, too,” he said.

European Council President Antonio Costa suggests that the European Union’s push to boost its military spending amid the uncertainty over Trump’s support for Ukraine will improve the bloc’s economy.

“Prosperity and security are two sides of the same coin,” Costa wrote in a social media post after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Investing in our defence also means investing in our industries, in our technology, in jobs for our citizens.”

Donald Tusk has been meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, where the Turkish leader again said Turkiye is willing to host any future direct talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Tusk endorsed that offer.

“I have given President Erdogan a clear proposal for Turkiye to take on the greatest possible co-responsibility for the peace process, guaranteeing stability and security in our entire region,” Tusk said.

Turkiye is a member of the NATO alliance, but also maintains close ties with Russia.

The European Parliament has voted in favour of the resolution in support of Ukraine, saying the EU legislature “strongly deplores any attempts at blackmailing Ukraine’s leadership into surrender to the Russian aggressor for the sole purpose of announcing a so-called ‘peace deal'”.

The document said among other things that the EU body “considers that the current attempts by the US administration to negotiate a ceasefire and peace agreement with Russia over the heads of Ukraine and other European states, in which the latter are confronted with the outcome without their meaningful participation, as counterproductive and dangerous”.

It accused the US of “empowering the belligerent state, thus showing that an aggressive policy is not punished but rewarded”.

Russia’s annual inflation rate jumped above 10 percent in February to its highest level in two years, new official data have shown.

The rise comes despite aggressive interest rate hikes by the country’s central bank, meant to combat the inflation caused by massive government spending on the war in Ukraine.

Annual inflation ticked up to 10.1 percent year-on-year last month, compared with 9.9 percent in January, according to the Rosstat statistics service. That is the highest figure since February 2023.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, Russia has ramped up military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union era.