The Ukrainian Army on Friday claimed that reports of its soldiers “encircled” by Russians in the Kursk region are false and fabricated.
The army said that such reports by the Russians are for “political manipulation” and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners.
“The situation has remained largely unchanged over the past day. Combat operations within the operational zone of the ‘Kursk’ group of forces are ongoing,” the Ukrainian Army said.
“Our soldiers are effectively repelling enemy offensive actions and inflicting significant fire damage using all available weapon systems,” it added.
The clarification by Ukraine comes after US President Donald Trump appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainian troops that he said were in a “very bad and vulnerable position”, without elaborating what he was referring to.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
In response to Trump’s appeal, Putin said that he would spare the lives of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region if they laid down their arms.
“We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call,” Putin said in remarks broadcast on Russian television, according to AFP. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment,” Putin said.
While Ukraine’s military leadership denied the claims, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, accepted that Ukrainian troops were under “mounting pressure” in the western Russian region of Kursk but that the operation had eased pressure on Ukrainian troops elsewhere.
“The situation in the Kursk region is obviously very difficult,” news agency AFP quoted Zelensky as saying at a briefing in Kyiv, adding that fighting in the eastern Donetsk region had stabilised.
Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk
Last year, Ukraine launched a daring cross-border incursion into Kursk in August. It was the largest attack on Russian territory since World War II.
Within days, Ukrainian units had captured 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of territory, including the strategic border town of Sudzha, and taken hundreds of Russian prisoners of war.
Also Read | Ukraine war: Russian troops recapture Kursk border region’s largest town
Kyiv was hoping the Russian city would act as a bargaining chip in future peace talks and force Russia to divert troops away from its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
But Ukraine’s troops in Kursk have seen their position worsen in recent weeks as Russian forces pushed back
