Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk’s commander. There, his army chief said that Moscow’s troops are on the verge of seizing Ukraine’s border area.
Putin’s visit comes hours after Ukraine agreed to a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia.
He ordered the Army to oust Ukrainian troops from the area “in the shortest possible time” and consider installing buffer zones along the border, according to footage shown on provincial television on Wednesday.
With the recent collapse of Ukraine’s defense, Russia’s general chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that the troops had captured 400 soldiers and took 86% of the territory seized by Kiev in a surprising attack last summer.
Putin said prisoners should be treated “humanely” but warned that the remaining Ukrainian fighters would be considered “terrorists.”
Video of Putin arriving at the commander of a military group in the Kursk region.
He appeared in his military uniform. pic.twitter.com/bajwcudvk6
– Lone Wolf (@mapodogan) March 12, 2025
After meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Ukrainian and US officials supported a month-long hostilities along the entire Ukraine frontline.
In return, the US has resumed military aid and information sharing with Kiev, which was stopped last month after being stopped in an oval office between Donald Trump and Volodimia Zelensky.
At a briefing on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president described a meeting with US officials in Jeddah as “constructive.” He said the 30-day ceasefire was a US proposal he agreed to after contacting his team.
“We have repeatedly said that no one trusts the Russians, but we are not going to play with stories that claim that we don’t want this war to end,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president said it would require assistance from other countries to monitor the ceasefire along the 1,000km long frontline.
In February, Zelensky argued that Russian territory held by Kursk’s Ukrainian forces could be used as negotiation tips for peace negotiations.
But as Ukraine struggles to defend the captured areas, Moscow’s state media shared footage on Wednesday, saying it had shown Russian soldiers in the heart of Skaschha, the major municipality where Ukraine established the command center.
“I don’t think they’re ready to stop in Suda,” said Solomia Bobrovska, an opposing MP from Ukraine and a member of the National Security Intelligence Election Committee.
On Wednesday, Kiev commander Oleksandr Silsky said the Ukrainian forces had pulled back from parts of Kursk. “My priority was to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. This allows our troops to pilot a more advantageous line,” he wrote in Telegram.
The fight continued in Kursk, including the outskirts of Sudzha, Silsky added.
For Ukraine, just as Ukrainian forces suffer from military set-offs, the negotiated ceasefire has a painful resonance. In February 2015, Moscow pressed Kiev to sign a ceasefire just as its troops surrounded Debart Ceb, a town in eastern Ukraine. However, Russia repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement.
“Putin will try to fill Trump’s ears with nothing and Trump will have to decide what he will do next,” said Mikairo Samus, a military analyst in Ukrainian. He added that the US president is likely to offer Moscow a lifting of Western sanctions in exchange for a ceasefire.
Ukrainian officials and European allies on Wednesday welcomed the recovery of US aid and the sharing of information Kiev’s troops will use to hit targets beyond the frontline.
“This is an important signal for the world that support for Ukraine is unscathed,” Andry Yamak, the top aide and leader of the Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, wrote in Telegram.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorsky said on Wednesday that US military supply transport to Ukraine via Poland has “returned to previous levels.” Poland pays for some of its services to Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Kielstama said, “Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the battle.”
Priority said Russia will reconvene European leaders on Saturday “to discuss the next steps” in its “guarantee power” plan deployed in Ukraine to stop the attack again.
Trump said Wednesday that if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire, it could impose “catastrophic” sanctions.
“I can do things economically, which is going to be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace,” he said.
The Kremlin said they wanted to hear directly from the US before commenting on the proposal for a ceasefire. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Moscow hopes the United States will “inform us the details of the consultation and the agreements it has reached.”
The call between Putin and Trump could be organized “very quickly,” Peskov said, adding that the White House hasn’t yet requested that.
White House spokesperson Caroline Leavitt said Wednesday that “the president’s team is continuing to work hard.”
Russia’s SVR Foreign Intelligence Agency on Wednesday said that coach Sergei Narishkin spoke on the phone with US counterpart CIA chief John Ratcliffe, and that the two agencies agreed to maintain regular contact information.
Despite the continued advancement of the Russian army at Kursk, it appeared to have made progress in the rest of the frontline. The Ukrainian forces recently managed to contain Russian attacks around the logistics hub in Pokrovsk and launched a counterattack towards the centre of Tretsk, an industrial city Russian army that reached in August.
On the Pokrovsk front, one drone operator responded to news of the proposed ceasefire in one Ukrainian language.Pobachymo” – “I understand”.
Additional reports by Rafael Minder of Warsaw, Henry Foy of Brussels and Felicia Schwartz of Washington. Mapping by Stephen Bernard
