MOSCOW HAS SAID it intercepted 159 drones launched into its territory by Ukraine last night on the same day Vladimir Putin paid a visit to the recently recaptured Kursk region.

The drones mostly targeted Russian regions bordering Ukraine and were launched from 8:00 pm Moscow time (1700 GMT) Tuesday until 8:00 am on Wednesday, according to a defence ministry statement.

The barrage came on the same day that Russian president Vladimir Putin visited Kursk, a region just 30km from the Ukrainian border, where Ukrainian troops captured territory last August as a bargaining tool for eventual ceasefire negotiations.

However, they were pushed out by Moscow’s forces, with help from North Korean soldiers at the end of April.

Images aired on the Rossia 24 channel showing a relaxed and smiling Putin sitting around a large table decked with tea and sweets, with people from the region.

Last night’s attack followed a two-hour call between US President Donald Trump and Putin on Sunday that failed to clinch a breakthrough in ending the three-year conflict.

European diplomats have been pressing Moscow to agree to a truce.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of stalling in order to “buy time” in its offensive against his country.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he expected Russia to present a Ukraine ceasefire outline within days that will show if it was serious.

Putin has consistently rejected proposals for a 30-day truce put forward by Kyiv and its Western allies.

But Rubio said that Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated they would present their own terms “maybe in a number of days, maybe this week hopefully.”

The Russians will offer “just broad terms that would allow us to move towards a ceasefire, and that ceasefire would then allow us to enter into detailed negotiations to bring about an end of the conflict,” Rubio said.

He said that the presentation will “tell us a lot about their true intentions.”

“If it’s a term sheet that’s realistic and you can work off of it, that’s one thing. If it makes demands that we know are unrealistic, I think that will be indicative.”

The EU formally adopted a new round of sanctions on Russia on Tuesday, targeting its “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, and threatened more punishment for Moscow for not agreeing a Ukraine truce.

“The EU has approved its 17th sanctions package against Russia, targeting nearly 200 shadow fleet ships,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

“More sanctions on Russia are in the works. The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response.”

The latest sanctions against the Kremlin have been in the pipeline for weeks and were already approved by EU countries last week.