President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday ahead of his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to flightradar data and a source familiar with the trip. Why it matters: The Moscow talks are crucial to Trump's efforts to secure a 30-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Russian forces have driven the Ukrainian army out of the biggest town in Russia's Kursk border region, officials claimed Thursday, as U.S. officials sought the Kremlin's response to a proposed 30-day ceasefire in the three-year war that Ukraine has endorsed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, dressed in military fatigues, ordered the swift defeat of Ukrainian forces in western Russia, a signal to the United States that Moscow holds the military initiative as they prepare to discuss a ceasefire on Thursday.