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’s president, Vladimir Putin, dressed in fatigues, visited a command post near the front in Kursk late Wednesday to cheer on his military’s ejection of Ukrainian forces from much of the territory they had been occupying in the Russian border region.

Speaking while dressed in fatigues, President Vladimir Putin says his main priority is to defeat Ukraine in the shortest time possible. It comes as a team from the United States heads to Moscow, expressing confidence that Russia will join a peace plan that is agreed to by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.