The Kremlin on Thursday removed the head of Russia's space agency after a tenure of less than three years that was scarred by the spectacular failure of Russia's first mission to the moon in 47 years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the chief of Roscosmos and replaced him with another official in a surprise shake up at one of the world’s biggest space agencies.

That will take some doing. Putin remains uninterested in peace talks as long as Russian troops continue to gain ground in Ukraine’s east, albeit at a slow pace, and while Ukrainian forces hold seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia, according to John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other former officials.

President Donald Trump says his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the grinding conflict.

Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war — or face sanctions — in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22.