Ukraine-Russia ceasefire latest: Putin tours Kursk while Trump threatens sanctions if he doesn’t agree to ceasefire

Turkey has emerged as a key potential partner in restructuring European security, diplomats and analysts have told the Reuters news agency, as Europe scrambles to bolster its defence and find guarantees for Ukraine under any forthcoming ceasefire deal urged by the United States.

European countries have been unsettled by US president Donald Trump’s plan to end the Ukraine war, which has upended Washington’s policy, halted Russia’s isolation with possibility of rapprochement, piled pressure on Kyiv after disastrous talks with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and endangered transatlantic ties.

Analysts say Europeans’ push to maintain Ukraine’s military capabilities and agree security guarantees, while boosting its own defence without Washington, has created a rare opportunity for Turkey to deepen ties with Europe despite lingering disputes over the rule of law, maritime issues with Greece and Cyprus, and Ankara’s long stalled European Union membership bid.

“European countries that thought they had the luxury of excluding Turkey until today are now seeing that they cannot exclude Turkey anymore,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and director of the Centre for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies.

Speaking after talks with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said he brought a “clear proposal for Turkey to take on the greatest possible co-responsibility” for peace in Ukraine and regional stability.

A senior European diplomat said Turkey had “very important views” on what is needed for peace in Ukraine.

Mr Erdogan had managed to balance his relationship between Mr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin during the war, the diplomat said, “so it makes sense to have him on board”.

Russia’s operation to eject Ukrainian forces from the western Russian of Kursk has entered its final stage, state news agency TASS reported on Thursday citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday visited the western Russian region of Kursk for the first time since Ukrainian forces seized some territory in the region.

But while the world waits for the response from the Kremlin, current and former officials across Europe have told The Independent Moscow would try and extract as much as possible from the US for any agreement – and then violate it anyway.

President Vladimir Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region on Wednesday, his first since the start of a Ukrainian incursion last summer.

MR Putin’s visit was clearly calculated to emphasise Russia’s gains in the region. He reportedly ordered his troops to continue their advance and swiftly retake the rest of the area from Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on 6 August last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of land inside Russia, boosting citizens’ morale and gaining a potential bargaining chip.

But after clinging on for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in Kursk in the past week after its main supply lines were severed.

Mr Putin has said he is considering setting up a new buffer zone inside Ukraine’s Sumy region, which is adjacent to Kursk, to guard against any future potential Ukrainian incursions.

He also said foreign citizens fighting with Ukrainian forces captured in Kursk were not entitled to enjoy the protection of the Geneva Conventions, and that Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk should be treated as “terrorists”.

“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region and still fighting here, to completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region, and to restore the situation along the line of the state border,” Mr Putin said.

“And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border.”

G7 foreign ministers are to meet in Canada as Russia considers a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Peace in Ukraine is likely to top the agenda for Thursday’s meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, with foreign secretary David Lammy stressing the need to ensure Kyiv is “in the strongest possible position”.

Mr Lammy said: “If we do not achieve lasting peace in Ukraine, the instability and insecurity that has hit the living standards of working people in Britain will only get worse and Putin’s appetite for conflict and chaos will only grow.”

The meeting, which will also be attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, comes as the Kremlin considers a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire put forward after talks between the US and Ukraine.

American officials were expected to put the proposals directly to Russian president Vladimir Putin overnight on Wednesday, with Mr Rubio saying “the ball is truly in their court”.

On Wednesday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still awaiting “detailed information” on the proposal.

Two people familiar with the matter said Russia has presented Washington with a list of demands for a deal to end the Ukraine war and reset relations with the United States, reported Reuters.

The specific demands were not clear, nor whether Russia, which holds just under a fifth of Ukraine, was willing to enter peace talks with Kyiv prior to their acceptance.

The people said the demands were similar to previous Kremlin terms including no Nato membership for Kyiv, recognition of Russia’s claim to Crimea and four Ukrainian provinces and an agreement that foreign troops not be deployed in Ukraine.

Mr Rubio said that Europe would have to be involved in any security guarantee for Ukraine, and that the sanctions Europe has imposed would also be on the table.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the United States was hoping for a positive response to its Ukraine ceasefire plan, and that if the answer was “no” then it would tell Washington a lot about the Kremlin’s true intentions.

Speaking to reporters when his plane refueled in Ireland, Mr Rubio said on Wednesday: “Here’s what we’d like the world to look like in a few days: Neither side is shooting at each other, not rockets, not missiles, not bullets, nothing … and the talking starts.”

The US on Tuesday agreed to resume weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said at talks in Saudi Arabia that it was ready to support a ceasefire proposal.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was carefully studying the results of that meeting and awaited details from the US.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would review details from Washington about a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine before responding, while US secretary of state Marco Rubio hoped a deal would be struck within days.

As Moscow considered the plan, president Vladimir Putin, dressed in military fatigues, made a surprise visit to Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Ukrainian troops captured part of it last year.

With Mr Putin’s presence highlighting recent Russian advances in Kursk, Valery Gerasimov, head of Russia’s General Staff, told the Kremlin leader his troops had repelled Ukrainian forces from 86 per cent of the ground they once held in Kursk.

Ukraine had hoped to use that territory as a bargaining chip in any peace talks with Moscow.

The US on Tuesday agreed to resume weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said at talks in Saudi Arabia that it was ready to support a ceasefire proposal.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was carefully studying the results of that meeting and awaited details from the US.