Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages
The Hindu
Ukrainian leader denies troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region as Moscow regains land, Putin offers surrender terms.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky denied on Saturday (March 15, 2025) his troops were encircled in Russia's Kursk region, where Moscow has regained swathes of land this week, as Russia said it took back two more villages in the border region.
U.S. leader Donald Trump had a day earlier asked Russia's Vladimir Putin on social media to spare the lives of Ukrainian troops that he said were "completely surrounded" by the Russian Army.
Moscow has pushed this week to retake a large part of the land that Ukraine originally captured in its western Kursk region last summer.
Mr. Zelensky has acknowledged that the situation in the Kursk area is "very difficult" for Ukraine, but contradicted Mr. Trump's comments.
"There is no encirclement of out troops," he said on social media, adding that: "Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region."
Kyiv had hoped to use the Russian territories as a bargaining chip in any negotiations to end the more than three-year conflict.
The U.K. on Saturday hosted a virtual summit on how to protect any ceasefire in Ukraine, but Mr. Zelensky warned that Moscow was intent on "prolonging the war" and "ignoring diplomacy."
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