Russia’s operation to eject Ukrainian forces from the western Russian region of Kursk has entered its final stage, state news agency Tass reported on Thursday citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday visited the region for the first time since Ukrainian forces seized some territory in the region.
On his Kursk visit, Mr Putin, dressed in military fatigues, ordered top commanders to defeat Ukrainian forces in the region as soon as possible after the United States asked him to consider a 30-day ceasefire proposal.
US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday that negotiators were headed to Russia “right now” for talks on a possible ceasefire with Ukraine, after Kyiv agreed to a 30-day truce.
Mr Trump did not give further details, but the White House later said that his special envoy Steve Witkoff was going to Moscow later this week.
Mr Trump would not say when he would next speak to Mr Putin, but added that “I hope he’s going to have a ceasefire.
“It’s up to Russia now,” said the US president.
Ukrainian forces smashed across the Russian border on August 6th and grabbed a slice of land inside Russia in a bid to distract Moscow’s forces from the front lines in eastern Ukraine and to gain a potential bargaining chip.
But a lightning Russian advance over the past few days has left Ukraine with a sliver of less than 200sq/km (77sq/m) in Kursk, down from 1,300sq/km at the peak of the incursion last summer, according to the Russian military.
“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible time frame, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region,” Mr Putin told generals in remarks televised late on Wednesday.
“And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border.”
The remarks by Mr Putin came as Mr Trump said he hoped Moscow would agree to a ceasefire and said that if not then Washington could cause Russia financial pain.
Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff, told Mr Putin that Russian forces had pushed Ukrainian forces out of over 86 per cent of the territory they had once held in Kursk.
He said Russian forces had retaken 24 settlements and 259sq/km of land from Ukrainian forces in the last five days along with more than 400 prisoners.
Ukraine’s top army commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that Kyiv’s troops will keep operating in Kursk as long as needed.
The US on Tuesday agreed to resume weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said at talks in Saudi Arabia that it was ready to support a ceasefire proposal.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said it was carefully studying the results of that meeting and awaited details from the US. – Reuters
