*

Putin visits Kursk for the first time since Kyiv's attack

*

Zelenskiy says 30-day truce can be used to draft peace

plan

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Senior source says Russia will seek guarantees

*

Rubio says if Russia says 'no', it will say a lot

*

Putin has repeatedly said a long-term peace is needed

(Adds details on Putin visit to Kursk paragraph 2-4, 19-23;

reported Russian demands paragraphs 8-10, Ukraine view of

underlying issues paragraph 15)

By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov

MOSCOW, March 12 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on

Wednesday it would review details from Washington about a

proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine before responding,

while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hoped a deal would be

struck within days.

As Moscow considered the plan, President Vladimir Putin,

dressed in military fatigues, made a surprise visit to Russia's

Kursk region for the first time since Ukrainian troops captured

part of it last year.

With Putin's presence highlighting recent Russian

advances in Kursk, Valery Gerasimov, head of Russia's General

Staff, told the Kremlin leader his troops had repelled Ukrainian

forces from 86% of the ground they once held in Kursk. Ukraine

had hoped to use that territory as a bargaining chip in any

peace talks with Moscow.

The U.S. on Tuesday agreed to resume weapons supplies

and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said at talks

in Saudi Arabia that it was ready to support a ceasefire

proposal.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was carefully studying the

results of that meeting and awaited details from the U.S.

Rubio said the United States was hoping for a positive

response, and that if the answer was "no" then it would tell

Washington a lot about the Kremlin's true intentions.

Speaking to reporters when his plane refueled in Ireland,

Rubio said on Wednesday: "Here's what we'd like the world to

look like in a few days: Neither side is shooting at each other,

not rockets, not missiles, not bullets, nothing ... and the

talking starts."

Two people familiar with the matter said Russia has

presented Washington with a list of demands for a deal to end

the Ukraine war and reset relations with the United States.

The specific demands were not clear, nor whether Russia,

which holds just under a fifth of Ukraine, was willing to enter

peace talks with Kyiv prior to their acceptance.

The people said the demands were similar to previous

Kremlin terms including no NATO membership for Kyiv, recognition

of Russia's claim to Crimea and four Ukrainian provinces and an

agreement that foreign troops not be deployed in Ukraine.

Rubio said that Europe would have to be involved in any

security guarantee for Ukraine, and that the sanctions Europe

has imposed would also be on the table.

After a meeting of five European defence ministers, British

defence minister John Healey on Wednesday told reporters that

work was accelerating on a "coalition of the willing from Europe

and beyond" to support Ukraine. French Defence Minister

Sebastien Lecornu said about 15 countries had expressed

interest.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed this

week's meeting in Saudi Arabia as constructive, and said a

potential 30-day ceasefire with Russia could be used to draft a

broader peace deal.

After Russian forces made gains in Ukraine in 2024, Trump

reversed U.S. policy on the war, launching bilateral talks with

Moscow and suspending military assistance to Ukraine, demanding

that it take steps to end the conflict.

Tuesday's agreement signaled a major improvement in

U.S.-Ukraine relations after a clash between Trump and Zelenskiy

at the White House last month sent them to a new low, but it did

not alter the issues underlying the conflict with Russia,

Ukrainian sources said.

RUSSIA WANTS ITS ADVANCES TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has left hundreds

of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions of people,

reduced towns to rubble and triggered the biggest confrontation

between Moscow and the West in six decades.

During Putin's visit to Kursk, Gerasimov told him Russian

forces had regained 1,100 square kilometers (425 square miles)

of territory including 259 square kilometers in the last five

days.

Kyiv's forces have been on the verge of losing their

foothold in Kursk. Their main supply lines were cut and they

ceded control of the town of Sudzha.

Putin called for Russia's forces to swiftly retake any

remaining area from Kyiv's troops. He also made it clear he was

considering the creation of a buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy

region, across the border from Kursk.

Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian site that charts

the frontlines of the war, updated its battlefield map to show

Ukrainian forces were no longer in control of Sudzha. However,

it said fighting was continuing on the outskirts.

Ukraine's top army commander

said on Wednesday

that Kyiv's troops will keep operating in Kursk region as

long as needed and that fighting continued in and around Sudzha.

Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to talk about an end

to the war and Trump says he thinks Putin is serious, though

other Western leaders disagree.

Reuters reported in November that Putin was ready to

negotiate a deal with Trump, but would refuse to make major

territorial concessions and would insist Kyiv abandon ambitions

to join NATO.

Ukraine says the regions claimed by Moscow have been

annexed illegally and that it will never recognise Russian

sovereignty over them.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs

committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's

parliament, said on Telegram that Russia's advances in Ukraine

must be taken into account in any deal.

"Real agreements are still being written there, at the

front. Which they should understand in Washington, too," he

said.

(Additional reporting by Reuters in Moscow, Daphne Psaledakis

in Shannon, Ireland, Doina Chiacu and Humeyra Pamuk in

Washington, and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Cynthia

Osterman; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Kevin Liffey, Daniel

Wallis and Diane Craft)