President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Russia’s occupied Kursk region on Wednesday, as the Kremlin considers a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with his troops closing in on Ukraine’s only territorial bargaining chip.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin, dressed in military fatigues, ordered top commanders to defeat Ukrainian forces in the western region of Kursk as soon as possible after the United States asked him to consider a 30-day ceasefire proposal.

Russia unleashed a missile strike on Volodymyr Zelensky ’s home town after Ukraine targeted Moscow with a massive drone attack. The attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 47-year-old woman and wounded at least nine other people, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Wednesday.

The dawn attack unfurled as U.S. officials were to meet a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to seek an end of the three-year-war.

After Ukraine staged its biggest-ever drone attack on Moscow, which coincided with the U.S.-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia, VOA Russian spoke to regional experts who saw it as Kyiv's signal to Vladimir Putin to convince him to agree to a ceasefire.