The Russian president demands the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers to guarantee their lives in Kursk
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his understanding for his US counterpart Donald Trump’s call to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, saying that if they lay down their weapons and surrender, their lives will be guaranteed.
“Today we discussed US President Trump’s proposal to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers trapped in Kursk,” Putin said during a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Friday.
He added, “We draw attention to the fact that Ukrainian forces have committed numerous crimes against civilians in the occupied territory, which have been classified as terrorism”.
The Russian president continued, “at the same time, we understand Trump’s call to take into account humanitarian considerations regarding these Ukrainian soldiers”.
He added, “If they lay down their weapons and surrender, their lives will be guaranteed, and they will be treated with dignity in accordance with the standards of international and Russian law”.
Putin called on the Ukrainian leadership to order its soldiers to lay down their weapons and surrender as prisoners of war, effectively implementing the US president’s call.
Earlier on Friday, Trump said that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were completely surrounded by the Russian military and were in a very vulnerable and difficult situation.
He added in a post on Truth Social, “I asked Putin to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, otherwise there will be a horrific massacre on a scale not seen since World War II”.
In early August, the Ukrainian army launched a large-scale operation against the Russian Kursk region, a border region between the two countries, culminating in its control of approximately 100 residential areas.
On Wednesday, Putin, dressed in military uniform, visited a command center in Kursk and received a briefing on the situation from Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
During the visit, Putin emphasized that Ukrainian military units in the Kursk region must be defeated as soon as possible, and that the Kursk region must be completely liberated, and the state borders restored to their former state.
