Ukraine war briefing: Putin visits Kursk as Trump threatens consequences if ceasefire not agreed
www.theguardian.com
Thu, 13 Mar 2025 03:54:39 +0200
Russian president hopes army on brink of fully liberating border region after recent advances Trump says he could do things financially if Moscow rejects truce.
What we know on day 1,114See all our Ukraine war coverageVladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since Ukraine partly invaded the Russian region in a surprise August 2024 offensive.
The Russian president expressed hope his army was on the brink of fully liberating Kursk after it claimed to have retaken 24 settlements in the past five days.
I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will be fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy, he said on state television.Minutes after Putins remarks aired, Ukraines army commanderinchief, Gen Oleksandr Syrski, suggested his troops were pulling back to minimise losses.
In the most difficult situation, my priority has been and remains saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
To this end, the units of the defence forces, if necessary, manoeuvre to more favourable positions, Syrski posted online, in terms typically used to describe a withdrawal.Syrskyi said the Russian military was suffering huge personnel and equipment losses while trying to achieve political gains by attempting to oust Ukrainian troops.
Sudzha is the largest settlement that Ukraine seized in Kursk, and the Ukrainebased Deep State opensource mapping project showed earlier on Wednesday that Kyiv was no longer in full control of it.
The enemy is using assault units of airborne troops and special operations forces to break through our defences, oust our troops out of the Kursk region and move fighting to the territory of Sumy and Kharkiv regions, Syrskyi said.Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv was doing as much as possible to protect its soldiers.
The Russians are clearly trying to put maximum pressure on our troops, and our military command is doing what it has to do, the Ukrainian president told a press conference in Kyiv.
We are preserving the lives of our soldiers as much as possible.Donald Trump suggested he could target Russia financially as Ukraines president urged him to take strong steps if Moscow failed to support a 30day ceasefire agreed between Ukrainian and US delegations meeting in Saudi Arabia.
Washington, Kyiv and Europe are waiting for Moscows response to the proposal, and US envoys are expected to hold talks with Putin by the end of the week.
The Kremlin has not publicly said whether or not it supports an immediate ceasefire.
If Putin refuses, Trump said he could do things financially that would be very bad for Russia.Zelenskyy said he expected strong measures from the Washington if Russia rejected the ceasefire proposal.
I understand that we can count on strong steps.
I dont know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions against Russia and strengthening Ukraine.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Washington wanted Moscows agreement with no strings attached.
Thats what we want to know if theyre prepared to do it unconditionally, Rubio said on a plane heading to a G7 meeting in Canada.
If the response is yes, then we know weve made real progress, and theres a real chance of peace.
If their response is no, it would be highly unfortunate, and itll make their intentions clear.The US threats came as the French defence minister, Sbastien Lecornu, told a press conference in Paris that a ceasefire announcement could come as soon as Thursday and that Europe would have to be prepared to help enforce it.
Defence ministers from Europes five leading military powers the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland and France met in the French capital on Wednesday to discuss the formation of a reassurance force that would guarantee peace in Ukraine if a settlement was agreed.
Lecornu said they were hoping to see a ceasefire tomorrow and that 15 countries were willing to contribute to a force of up to 30,000 personnel that would permanently secure Ukraines airports, ports and infrastructure.
Continue reading...
Latest news
more news