Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to surrender, as diplomatic back-and-forth continues over a potential US-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine.

Russia's Security Council's Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting of the Council for Science and Education at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Moscow region's city of Dubna,

Representatives of China, Russia and Iran have called for an end to U.S. sanctions on Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program and a restart to multinational talks on the issue.

President Trump said Russia, China and Iran may discuss "de-escalation" during upcoming nuclear talks in Beijing and suggested he might engage with North Korea on denuclearization.

The trilateral meeting in Beijing came after Donald Trump wrote to Iran’s supreme leader aiming to restart negotiations over the nuclear issue.View on euronews

The American visit comes as the Russian military claimed to have recaptured Sudzha - a key town in the Kursk region that Ukraine invaded last year in a surprise attack.

Vladimir Putin told a news conference that he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire, but he immediately spelled out tough conditions that appeared to rule out agreement.

"Reports about the enemy's alleged 'encirclement' of Ukrainian units in the Kursk region are not true and are created by the Russians for political goals and pressure on Ukraine a

The Volgograd refinery has been targeted by Kyiv’s forces on several occasions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, most recently in a drone attack on February 15. Russia’s defence ministry said that it had shot down 126 Ukrainian drones, 64 of which were destroyed over the Volgograd region.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia was excluded from high-level talks on ending the war after the Kremlin said it didn't want him there, a U.S. administration official and a Russian official tell NBC News.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his special envoy Steve Witkoff is in serious discussions with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine. “Hopefully they’ll do the right thing,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.