PUTIN: ‘RUSSIAN TROOPS ARE ADVANCING IN ALMOST ALL AREAS’: Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly believes he’s sitting in the catbird seat, as he smugly listed his many objections to accepting a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the Americans. His chief argument? I’m winning. Why would I stop now?

At a news conference in Moscow, Putin said that while the U.S. may have pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the proposal, the Ukrainian President should have “asked most emphatically” for the ceasefire “in view of the situation evolving on the ground.”