Kiiv: Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged Ukrainian troops in Kursk to surrender as Moscow forces drive to recover the lost terrain, while kyiv warns that the Kremlin is using the battle to strengthen its position before participating in high -fire conversations.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Putin to avoid the life of Ukrainian troops, since he said that his envoy had had “productive” conversations with the leader of Russia in a high the proposed fire of 30 days.
Russia has mounted a rapid counteroffensive in the Western border region of Kursk during the past week, recovering much of the Ukrainian territory seized a surprising incursion last August.
The defeat in Kursk would be a great blow to Ukraine plans to use its control in the region as a negotiation chip in peace conversations for the three -year war.
“We are supporters with President Trump’s call,” Putin said in comments broadcast on Russian television.
“If they place their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment,” Putin said.
Trump said “thousands” of the Ukrainian troops were “completely surrounded by the Russian army, and in a very bad and vulnerable position.”
‘Horrible Massacre’
“I have firmly requested President Putin to save his lives. This would be a horrible massacre, one that is not seen since World War II,” Trump said.
Ukraine military leadership denied the statements. “There is no threat that our units are surrounded,” Ukraine general personnel published on social networks.
Zelensky gave a more sober evaluation in the comments to journalists in Kyiv. “The situation in the Kursk region is obviously very difficult,” he said, while insisted that the campaign still had value.
Russia, he said, had been forced to get troops from other areas on the front line, relieveing the pressure on the Ukrainian troops fighting to maintain control of the Pokrovsk Eastern Logistics Center.
Trump’s latest comments occurred when he gave an update on a meeting on Thursday between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin in an American-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day pause in hostilities.
“We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good possibility that this horrible and bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump said on his social platform of truth.
Ukraine losing grip
Putin said Thursday that he had “serious questions” about the proposal and that Kursk events would influence the next movements towards a high fire.
Zelensky accused the Russian leader of looking for the initiative of Alto El Fuego.
“Now he is doing everything possible to sabotage diplomacy by establishing extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions from the beginning even before a high fire,” Zelensky published in X.
The Kremlin said Friday that it was “cautiously optimistic” that an agreement could be reached, but that Trump and Putin had to speak directly before the conversations could progress.
The US National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said in a Fox News interview that the United States had “cautious optimism” after Witkoff’s visit.
The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, said at a group of seven Western powers in Canada that both parties would have to make “concessions.”
The foreign ministers of the G7 warned Russia of new sanctions unless they accept a high fire “on equal terms”, saying that the sanctions could include “the limits of oil prices, as well as the additional support for Ukraine and other means.”
France and Germany accused Russia of seeking to block fire, and support for Ukraine should be discussed again in a videoconference of some European leaders with Zelensky on Saturday.
Diplomatic sources said that the EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas would propose that the block of 27 countries supply up to 40 billion euros (£ 34 billion) in a new military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine hoped that his control over Kursk was a negotiation chip in conversations with Russia and was watching a possible exchange of land with Moscow, which has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since he took Crimea in 2014 and launched his military offensive in February 2022.
