Trump, Rubio and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have all cast doubt on the prospect of Ukraine returning to its pre-2014 borders under a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has made no secret of its goal of fully occupying Ukraine’s Donetsk,

Russia will seek guarantees that Nato will exclude Ukraine from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral in any peace deal, a Russian deputy foreign minister said. "We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement," Alexander Grushko told Russian media outlet Izvestia.

Russia has signalled its three key demands for a deal to end its war and reset relations with Washington following positive negotiations between Ukraine and the US