Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Moscow claimed to have completely recaptured the region following a surprise incursion by Ukrainian forces last year, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. Putin met with municipal leaders in the city of Kurchatov and visited the Kursk nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction, the Kremlin said, according to TASS.
Video footage posted by Russian state media showed Putin dressed in a suit speaking with what appeared to be local volunteers. The news agency did not report when the visit took place.
Last August Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Kursk, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II. Since then, Russia, with support from North Korean soldiers, has been fighting to oust Ukraine’s forces from its borders, while Kyiv poured precious resources into holding onto its territory there, with the view of using it as a key bargaining chip in any peace talks.
Putin claimed last month that Russian forces had recaptured Kursk and said North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover territory in the region. Kyiv has insisted its troops are fiercely battling to preserve their foothold in the territory.
Last week Ukraine said it is still pursuing the ground war inside Russia. “We are continuing our active operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions – we are proactively defending Ukraine’s border areas,” President Zelensky said in his nightly address last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to "immediately" start ceasefire talks after the US president spoke for more than two hours on the phone to his Russian counterpart.
Putin said separately that he was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum towards a possible peace deal, but fell short of giving Trump the unconditional 30-day ceasefire he sought.
Trump had set up the call amid increasing frustrations with both Moscow and Kyiv after promising during his election campaign to end the grinding three-year conflict in 24 hours.
