Putin’s top aide said the U.S. plan was just “a temporary respite” for Ukraine. Yuri Ushakov, a former ambassador to Washington and a key aide to President Vladimir Putin, told Russian state television that he had spoken to the U.S.’s national security chief, Michael Waltz, on Wednesday. “I stated our position that this is nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more,” Ushakov said. “Our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country and our well-known concerns. It seems to me that no one needs any steps that [merely] imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” he added. An American delegation arrived in Moscow on Thursday, headed by Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, who has become a key figure in high-stakes diplomatic talks. The U.S. has said it hopes the Kremlin will agree to its proposals, which Ukraine signed up to earlier this week. Trump has threatened “devastating” economic measures on Russia if it refuses the plan. But a report by the Reuters news agency said that Putin’s administration has presented the Americans with a list of demands that would need to be fulfilled ahead of any peace deal. The list has been discussed by officials, the report said, with sources saying that the terms were broadly similar to previous demands Russia has made of Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO. Earlier demands have included keeping Ukraine out of NATO, no foreign troop deployment in the region after the war and recognition of Russian territorial claims in Ukraine. Russia claims advances in Kursk region Russia may also feel it can hold off from agreeing to peace in light of recent advances on the battlefield. On Thursday, the country’s defense ministry said it had captured the key town of Sudzha and other settlements in its Kursk region, which had been held by Ukrainian forces for several months. The claim is backed by the analysis by the American-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). President Putin made his first wartime visit to the province this week, appearing at a military control center and holding a meeting at a command post for the Kursk troops. Ukraine’s foothold in the border province, which is part of the Russian mainland, was considered potential leverage for Kyiv in any future peace talks. Russian forces, supported by North Korean troops, have been gradually clawing back territory for months, but officials in Moscow now believe they will soon drive the remaining Ukrainian soldiers from the region, in what could be a major blow in the conflict. Ukraine’s top army commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that his troops would keep operating in Kursk as long as needed and that fighting continued in and around Sudzha.