Putin says Ukraine’s Kursk offensive failed as Russia expels last troops from the region
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in footage published by the Kremlin on Saturday that Ukraine’s offensive into Russia’s Kursk region had completely failed, which he said would lay the ground for future successes for the Russian army.
Putin was shown receiving a report from Russia’s chief army officer, Valery Gerasimov, who told Putin that Ukrainian forces have been expelled from the last part of the Kursk region they had held in August 2024.
This comes in parallel with a brief meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Rome, which a White House official said was “very productive”.
As both leaders attended the funeral of Pope Francis, they agreed to meet again later the same day for further talks, a spokesman for Zelenskiy said.
Trump, who has been pressing both sides to agree a ceasefire, said on Friday that there had been productive talks between his envoy and the Russian leadership, and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.
