Zelensky said that fighting continues in the Kursk region

US President Donald Trump said on March 14 that “thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are completely surrounded by Russian troops and are in a very bad and vulnerable condition.” Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “have mercy on them,” otherwise, according to him, “a terrible massacre not seen since World War II” would occur.

Trump was most likely referring to the Ukrainian military in the Kursk region. According to the leaked video footage, Ukrainian armed forces units have abandoned a large part of the bridgehead in the Kursk region, while suffering heavy losses. Only the Sudzha border crossing and several villages around it remain under the control of the Ukrainian army. Although Russian drone strikes have made it difficult to deliver supplies to these areas, there is no encirclement.

Trump’s statement is believed to be based on a Pentagon assessment: an American military official, speaking anonymously to NBC News, said that Russian forces had “almost completely surrounded” Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, with some Ukrainian units retreating and abandoning equipment.

Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to comply with Trump’s request. “In order to effectively implement the call of the US president, the Ukrainian military-political leadership must give its military units the appropriate order to lay down their weapons and surrender,” Putin said before a meeting of the Russian Security Council on March 14. The next day, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS that Putin’s proposal to lay down weapons was still valid, but that the Ukrainians were “running out of time.”

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, shortly after Trump’s statement, said that claims that Russian troops had surrounded Ukrainian units in the Kursk region “are not true and are fabricated by the Russians for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”

The General Staff said that military operations were continuing in the operational zone of the Ukrainian Kursk Group of Forces. “Units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces have regrouped, moved to more favorable lines of defense and are performing assigned tasks in the Kursk region. Our fighters are repelling the enemy’s offensive actions and are effectively striking him with all types of weapons,” the Ukrainian side said in a statement. The General Staff stressed that “there is no threat of encirclement of the units.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on March 15 that he had received a report from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Sirsky on the situation of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region:

The operation of our armed forces in some areas of the Kursk region is ongoing. The units are performing their tasks exactly as they should. Thanks to Ukrainian forces, a large number of Russian forces have been withdrawn from other directions in the Kursk region. Our troops continue to hold back the corresponding groups of Russian and North Korean forces in the Kursk region. Our troops are not surrounded. Putin is lying about the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region. Russia wants to surround Ukrainian troops in the Kursk direction, but not in Russia, but in Ukraine. And we know where.

Zelensky added that Ukrainian officials see Russia massing troops along the eastern border of Ukraine. “This indicates our desire to strike at Sumy. We understand this and will resist it. I would like all partners to understand what exactly Putin is planning, what he is preparing for, and what exactly he will ignore. The buildup of Russian forces indicates that Moscow intends to ignore diplomacy in the future. It is clear that Russia is prolonging the war,” the Ukrainian president said.

Meduza also cited other quotes from the Ukrainian leader’s speech published in local media, preserving the content.

- Everyone believes that Ukraine has won the negotiations with the United States, Zelensky said.

- The United States raised the issue of the occupied territories, but Ukraine does not recognize them as Russian.

- The security guarantees of the allies, as well as the decision on Ukraine’s membership in NATO, cannot depend on Russia’s will.

- If the Russians are not ready to cease fire for 30 days, then they do not agree with Trump’s proposal.

- The ceasefire may take a little longer than 30 days, but the main thing is that the US should not bow to Russia's "buts".

- If Russia violates the ceasefire, we will continue to defend ourselves. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”