Ukrainian plans to use Russia’s Kursk region as a negotiation tool have collapsed, Russian chief general Valery Gerasimov argued on Wednesday.
Russia recovered 86% of the region, and Ukrainian soldiers are trapped in the region, Gerasimov claimed that President Vladimir Putin had been visiting the region since the Ukraine invasion last August.
“And also () Kiev’s leadership was trying to use its advancement into the Kursk region to stop our progress and take the troops out of Donbas,” he said. “This enemy’s plan has completely collapsed.”
The Ukrainian troops in the area are surrounded, Jerasimov argued.
CNN cannot independently test the general’s claims.
Putin said the goal is to “fully release” the area as quickly as possible, increasing the likelihood of creating a “buffer zone” along Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Putin appeared on Russian state television in military uniforms and said all Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk would be treated as terrorists.
Background: Ukraine began a shocking invasion of Kursk in August. The campaign was intended to capture land that could potentially be exchanged for Russian occupying territories, as well as divert Moscow’s resources from the east frontline. However, since then, Ukraine has been struggling to grasp the captured territory, grasping the region and has been experiencing a rapid deterioration recently.
What Ukraine says: Moscow is using air forces and special operations forces to drive Ukrainian troops out of Kursk, Oleksandr Sief, the commander of the Ukrainian army, said in a Telegram post. Russia is about to break through Kursk’s Ukrainian defense and move the battle to the Smie and Kharkiv regions in northeastern Ukraine, he said. His priority is to save the lives of his soldiers, even if it means that he will continue to defend Kursk as long as it is appropriate, while still maneuvering them into “more advantageous positions,” he said.
The post was updated in a statement from the Ukrainian military leader.