The Russian press had declared Donald Trump's peace deal is "dying a slow death" as a key ally of Vladimir Putin mocked Western ceasefire plans by posting a map showing almost all of Ukraine occupied by Kremlin forces. The Moscow-based daily newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets ran an editorial on current ceasefire negotiations, commenting that it believed the President's "energy charge" had "gone flat" and that it would soon become "obvious" even to Mr Trump that any deal was in its "death throes".
The bleak assessment was reported by the BBC's Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg during his regular dispatch covering the nation's headlines. He added that the piece in the Moskovskij Komsomolets said: "The Trump factor was significant and strong enough to get Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table, but judging by the current picture, it feels like Trump's peace plan is dying a slow, but necessarily painful death.