President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was naming Keith Kellogg his special envoy for Ukraine, narrowing the retired general’s portfolio after reports he was sidelined during recent US-Russia talks at the Kremlin’s request.

The Kremlin said there are reasons to be optimistic about a settlement to the conflict but that more work needs to be done.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine is “not good enough,” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, after hosting a virtual summit aimed at drumming up support for Kyiv and piling pressure on Russia.

Speaking a day later alongside Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko — who brokered two failed processes to end Putin’s initial invasion of Ukraine a decade ago — the Russian president said any ceasefire would simply let Kyiv’s forces regroup just as Moscow is close to driving them out of Kursk.