MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — US negotiators travelled to Russia on Thursday to present their plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but Moscow warned in advance it would refuse any temporary deal that gave Kyiv a “breather”.

Ukraine agreed to the plan during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump pushes for a speedy end to the more than three-year conflict.

Russia has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year, claiming on Thursday to have driven Ukraine from the town of Sudzha in its Kursk region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely give his assessment of the US and Ukrainian-backed proposal later on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

A plane linked to Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff landed earlier at Vnukovo-2, a Moscow airport terminal often used to receive foreign dignitaries, Russian news agencies reported.

“Negotiators are flying in and indeed contacts are scheduled,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without saying who was part of the US team.

Trump has expressed optimism that his team can secure a ceasefire, even as Kyiv and Moscow trade almost daily aerial attacks.

“People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said the fact Russia was yet to respond to the idea showed it did not want peace.

“Regrettably, for more than a day already, the world has yet to hear a meaningful response from Russia to the proposals made,” he said on social media.

“This once again demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war and postpone peace for as long as possible.”