London – Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a command center in Kursk on Wednesday, ordering the troops there to “destroy” all the remaining Ukrainian formations in the border region in dispute.
“Your task is to completely destroy the enemy, who has entrenched himself in the Kursk region and is still carrying out a war here, and completely release the territory of the Kursk region in the shortest possible time,” Putin said as he dressed with military fatigue.
“The previous state along the limit must be restored,” said the president. “I hope that all the combat objectives facing their combat units will be achieved unconditionally and the territory of the Kursk region will be completely released from the enemy in the near future.”
The Ukrainian forces pushed Kursk in August in a surprise offensive, taking the city of Sudzha and the surrounding villages. kyiv troops have repelled months of Russian counteroffensive, but recent weeks have seen that their outstanding forces and Russian forces resume significant land.
A drone view shows troops stirring flags in a water tower in the center of Sudzha in the western region of Kursk in Russia on March 12, 2025.
Social Networks/Via Reuters
On Wednesday, the Russian troops raised their flags on the center of Sudzha when the Ukrainian forces hurriedly withdrew towards the shared border.
The successes on the battlefield of Russia in Kursk occur when the United States pushes Moscow and Kyiv to return to peace negotiations. This week, Ukraine and the United States agreed to a high fire of 30 days, and American representatives also put the proposal to a non -compromise Kremlin.
Russian officials have indicated that they will not participate in peace negotiations, while none of the Kursk remains under Ukrainian control. kyiv hoped to use his occupation of the territory as leverage in the conversations, although his footprint is now reducing rapidly.
On Wednesday, Putin said he will make “special thought in the future to create a security zone along the state border” to avoid repeated Ukrainian incursions. The prisoners assumed in the Russian territory would be treated “as terrorists,” said Putin, added that “foreign mercenaries” are not protected by Geneva conventions.
The envoy of the Middle East of President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, is expected in Moscow this week, since the administration promotes a high fire and a broader peace agreement. The ball is now “truly in court,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Russia after the US-Ukrainian agreement to a 30-day fire proposal.
In this image taken from booklet images published by the Kremlin on March 12, 2025, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, visits a command point for the Kursk troops group involved in the counteroffensive in the Kursk region.
Handout/Kremlin.ru/Afp through Getty Images
The Kremlin was not commitment. The authorities were “examining” the statements published publicly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. Russia, he added, “does not want to advance” in Alto Alto El Fuego.
On Thursday, Peskov confirmed that American negotiators travel to Moscow. “Contacts are planned,” said Peskov a press conference, adding the possible results, “we will not prejudge, we will tell you later.” Peskov didn’t say if Witkoff would meet with Putin.
Trump’s impulse for Peace, which has been twin with public fierce from Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been well received by the allies of the United States, although the leaders have been disturbed by the apparent alignment of the president with the false narratives of Russia about the conflict.
Rubio will meet with Ministers of Foreigners of the G7 in Quebec, Canada, Thursday. His presence at the meeting will also be eclipsed by Trump’s spiral commercial war with the neighbor of the northern United States, in addition to the repeated suggestion of the president that the United States absorbs Canada and becomes its state 51.
The G7 event “is not a meeting on how we are going to take control of Canada,” said Rubio on Wednesday, as mentioned by Associated Press.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at the International Airport of the City of Quebec Jean Lesage for a meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers in Quebec, Canada, on March 12, 2025.
Saul Loeb/Via Reuters
However, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that “at each meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate an answer with Europeans and press Americans.”
“The only constant in this unjustifiable commercial war seems to be the talk of President Trump to annex our country through economic coercion,” said Joly. “Yesterday, he called on our border a fictitious line and repeated his disrespectful rhetoric of the State 51”.
Tanya Stukalova, Patrick Reevell and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
