The US is watching “very, very narrow” his journey Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow, as top officials express concern over any calls for a ceasefire at this time, as the John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.

“A ceasefire that could be obtained now would basically validate the conquest of Russia and give Mr Putin more time to re-equip, re-train and restart operations at a time and place of his choosing,” said John Kirby, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications.

At the same time, he said that the relationship between Russia and China is “a marriage of convenience, not of affection”.

“These are two countries that don’t trust each other very much, but find common ground to push back against the West and American leadership,” said John Kirby characteristically.

“If you’re going to go to Moscow, and you’re going to sit down for three days with President Putin, you’re going to get his perspective on a war that started and could end today. You should at least pick up the phone and talk to President Zelensky and see the Ukrainian perspective here,” he said.

Kirby downplayed Putin’s weekend trip to Mariupol, Ukraine, commenting that he was “too far from the front lines.”

“It was a convenient excuse for him to go before Xi’s visit to show that he is still the commander-in-chief, that he is still in charge and that his army still has occupied territory inside Ukraine. There is no doubt that he could see for himself – or we would hope he would see for himself – how badly his army is doing where the fighting is actually going on.John Kirby pointed out.