President Vladimir Putin made an appearance in Russia’s Kursk region on Wednesday, marking his first visit since the Ukrainian army began an incursion into the western region in August 2024. The visit comes immediately after Russian troops retook the city of Sudzha amid reports that Ukrainian troops are retreating from the Kursk region.
Citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the state news agency TASS reported that Putin attended a meeting at a command post of the Kursk group of forces. State television reporter Pavel Zarubin also posted a video clip of the visit, which showed Putin dressed in camouflage and walking alongside Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s general staff. Footage of the meeting was also broadcast on the state television channel Rossiya-24.
During the meeting with Putin, Gerasimov reported that Russian forces have retaken more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of territory in the Kursk region, including 24 settlements recaptured in the last five days. In addition, he claimed that in certain areas along the border, Russian troops had crossed into Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Gerasimov said that Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region are now “isolated” and that their “systematic destruction is underway.” He also claimed that the Ukrainian army has already lost more than 67,000 soldiers in the region.
In turn, Putin tasked the military with “defeating the enemy in the shortest possible time,” adding that Ukrainian soldiers captured in the Kursk region should be treated “as terrorists in accordance with Russian laws.”
