On Russian government channels appeared video showing Vladimir Putin in uniform. With the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Valerian Gierasimov was standing in front of a military building — no 1 knows precisely where it was. However, the message was to be clear — Putin was not reasoning about the ceasefire, but about the fight.
Seven months ago, Ukraine occupied an area of about 1,300 sq mi in the Kursk Oblast. Recently, the momentum of Ukrainian troops in this region has weakened — were incapable to defy the Russian counteroffensive. As a result, Russia regained control of most of the territory in the region, according to Gierasimov, the Russians took over 1,100 sq km from Ukrainians. Ukrainian troops in Kursk were surrounded. “There is systematic destruction,” said the chief of the Russian General Staff.
Call for a Fight
The Russian president besides called for the mobilisation of units in the region.
— We must yet defeat an enemy who has dug into the Kurdish Oblast and is inactive conducting military operations here as shortly as possible," Putin said. He added that Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk should be treated as terrorists.
Kiev initially hoped to usage the conquered Russian region as leverage in peace negotiations and exchange it for Russia's Ukrainian territories. It seems, however, not to be happening.
"In the most hard situation, my precedence was and is to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers," wrote the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army Alexander Syrski on Facebook. He added that Ukrainian soldiers would decision to “more convenient positions if necessary”. The AFP press agency interpreted this as an announcement of a partial withdrawal from Ukrainians from the Kurdish circuit.
