The United States will no longer act as a mediator in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the State Department has confirmed, signalling a shift in Washington’s role in the ongoing conflict.

Russia's ejection of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region ends the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two but it also removes another barrier to a peace deal Moscow was reluctant to conclude with so many enemy troops on its soil.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy repeated that Ukraine insisted on Russia observing an unconditional ceasefire. "They must take clear steps toward ending the war and we insist that an unconditional and complete ceasefire must be the first step,