In rare public plea, Trump 'requests' Putin to not kill Ukrainian troops in Kursk

In a rare public plea, US President Donald Trump made “requested” Russian leader Vladimir Putin to not kill Ukrainian troops in Kursk.

In Russian Kursk province, Russia is currently conducting an offensive to free large swathes of territories captured by Ukraine in an incursion last year. In recent days, Russia has claimed to have freed around 86 per cent of the area captured by Ukraine, including the key town of Sudzha.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that thousands of Ukrainian troops have been encircled by Russia and he has pleaded to Putin to spare their lives.

“At this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military and in a very bad and vulnerable position. I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all! said Trump.

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The nearly-unprecedented public “request” comes at a time when US-backed, Ukraine-endorsed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire awaits a response from Putin. While he has said the idea of a ceasefire was acceptable in principle, he has dictated his own maximalist terms for such a ceasefire. Irrespective of such demands, Trump said that talks with Putin on Thursday were “very good and productive discussions”.

Steve Witkoff, a special envoy of Trump, held talks with Putin on Thursday.

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Even though Russian forces backed by North Korean troops have been advancing in Kursk, independent commentators as well as Ukrainian military have refuted Trump’s assertion that thousands of Ukrainian troops are encircled such that their massacre would be imminent.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian General Staff said in Ukrainian that reports of encirclement in Kursk “are untrue and are being created by the Russians for political purposes and pressure on Ukraine and its partners”.

The Ukrainian General Staff further said, “The situation has not changed significantly over the past day. Combat operations in the operational zone of the Kursk group of forces continue. Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine have regrouped, withdrawn to more advantageous defense lines and are carrying out their assigned tasks in the Kursk region. Our soldiers are repelling the enemy’s offensive actions and inflicting effective fire damage with all types of weapons. Since the beginning of the current day, there have been 13 combat clashes in the Kursk direction. There is no threat of encirclement of our units.”

Separately, George Barros, the Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said on X: “Available evidence from the battlefield does not indicate any Russian encirclements of Ukrainian forces at scale, and certainly not by the thousands.”

Even as Putin has not yet accepted the truce proposal and has continued to dictate maximalist demands, Trump said that “there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end”.

ALSO READ: From Russian invasion to Zelenskyy's election, Trump rewrites Ukraine war's history with lies

Trump echoing Russian claims regarding Kursk is in line with Trump’s longstanding trust in Putin. For years, Trump has trusted Putin’s statements over the assessment of his own agencies. In his first term, Trump rejected the assessment of the US intelligence community about Russian interference in US elections and exonerated Putin publicly.

As he dictated terms for the short-term truce, Putin on Thursday said that he would not allow Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw from Kursk and only their surrender would be acceptable.