Putin urges Kiev to order troops in Kursk Region to surrender
Moscow is “sympathetic” to US President Donald Trump’s request that the lives of the Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia’s Kursk Region be spared, President Vladimir Putin said during a National Security Council meeting on Friday. Russia will guarantee their lives if they lay down their arms, he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump urged Putin to preserve the lives of the “thousands of Ukrainian troops" who are "completely surrounded by the Russian military.”
“This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
Putin responded that he was aware of Trump’s request, adding that Russia was willing to consider it. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” the president said.
The Russian leader pointed out that Kiev’s forces had committed “numerous crimes against civilians” during their incursion into Kursk Region and that the Russian law enforcement authorities were treating their actions as “terrorism.”
For the US president’s call to be “effectively heeded,” Kiev must order its troops to lay down their arms, Putin stated.
Kiev launched a major offensive into the Kursk area in August 2024, capturing the town of Sudzha and dozens of villages. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said the incursion across the two countries' internationally recognized border was an attempt to gain leverage for future peace talks.
The Ukrainian advance was quickly halted by the Russian military, which has been gradually reclaiming ground ever since. As of Wednesday evening, Moscow’s forces had liberated 86% of the territory occupied by Ukraine in August 2024, according to the head of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. The remaining Ukrainian units in the area are largely “encircled” and “isolated,” he explained, without providing any specific figures about the number of troops surrounded.
Putin had earlier named the fate of the Ukrainian troops in Kursk Region as one of key issues to address before any deal on a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev can be reached.
Speaking on Thursday, the president said that Russia supports the idea of a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US but emphasized the need for further discussions with Washington to resolve specific concerns.
Kiev has so far not commented on Putin’s call. Earlier, the Ukrainian General Staff dismissed the reports about Kiev’s troops being surrounded in Kursk Region as “political manipulation” by Russia.
