Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a command post in Kursk, where his army chief told him that the forces of Moscow were about to take over the border region owned by the Ukrainian.
Putin’s visit occurred just a few hours after Ukraine accepted the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in his war with Russia.
He ordered the army to chase the forces of Ukraine outside the region “as soon as possible” and to consider setting up a buffer area along the border, according to images displayed on state television on Wednesday.
While the defense of Ukraine collapsed in recent days, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the staff of Russia, told Putin that their country had captured 400 soldiers and resumed 86% of the territory seized by kyiv during a surprise assault last summer.
Putin said prisoners should be treated “humanly”, but have warned that all remaining Ukrainian fighters would be considered “terrorists”.
Images of Putin’s arrival at the command post of the group of troops in the Kursk region.
He appeared in military uniform. pic.twitter.com/bajwcudvk6
– Lone Wolf (@Mapodogan) March 12, 2025
After meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Ukrainian and American officials supported a monthly cessation of hostilities throughout the Ukrainian first line.
In return, the United States has resumed military aid and intelligence sharing with kyiv which had been suspended after last month rupture in the oval office between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On Wednesday, in a briefing, the Ukrainian president described the meeting with the American officials of Djeddah as “constructive”. He said that the 30-day ceasefire was an American proposal that he had accepted after being in contact with his team.
“I said on several occasions that none of us trusted the Russians, but we are not going to play with stories saying that we do not want this war to end,” said Zelenskyy, adding that he was “serious” about the planned truce.
The president of Ukraine said that supporting other countries would be necessary to monitor the ceasefire along the first line 1,000 km long.
In February, Zelenskyy insisted on the fact that the Russian territories held by Ukrainian forces in Kursk could be used as a negotiation currency in peace negotiations.
But while Ukraine is struggling to defend the captured region, the Moscow state media shared images on Wednesday who said they had shown Russian soldiers in the center of Sudzha, the main municipality where Ukraine had installed a command center.
“I do not think they will be ready to stop in Sudzha,” said Solomiia Bobrovska, deputy for Ukrainian opposition and member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee.
Oleksandr Syrsky, commander -in -chief of kyiv, said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from certain parts of Kursk. “My priority was and remains to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. For this, our forces can maneuver on more advantageous lines, ”he wrote on Telegram.
The fighting continued in Kursk, including the Sudzha suburbs, added Salsky.
For Ukraine, a cease-fire negotiated as well as the Ukrainian forces undergo military losses have painful echoes. In February 2015, Moscow pressed kyiv to sign a ceasefire just when his troops surrounded the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve.
Russia has repeatedly violated this ceasefire agreement-a previous Zelenskyy spoke to the White House, which prompted Trump to conclude that the Ukrainian chief was not interested in ending the conflict.
“Putin will try to fill Trump’s ears with nothing, and Trump will have to decide what he will do then,” said Mykhailo Samus, Ukrainian military analyst. He added that the American president was likely to offer Moscow the lifting of Western sanctions in exchange for a cease-fire.
Karoline Leavitt, press secretary of the White House, said on Wednesday that US National Security Councilor Mike Waltz spoke to his Russian counterpart. “The president’s team continues to be engaged” in terms of ceasefire, she added.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials and European allies praised the restoration of American military aid and the sharing of the information that kyiv’s forces use to reach targets beyond the front line.
“It is an important signal for the whole world that support for Ukraine is intact,” wrote Andriy Yermak, the best assistant and head of the Ukrainian delegation from Jeddah.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said on Wednesday that the American transit of military supplies in Ukraine via Poland had “returned to the previous levels”, just like the Satellite Starlink communication system belonging to the adviser Trump Elon Musk. Poland pays part of this service to Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer congratulated Trump and Zelenskyy for their “remarkable breakthrough”, adding: “Russia must now accept a cease-fire and the end of the fighting too.”
Starmer said he would convert European leaders on Saturday “to discuss the next steps” of the plan for “insurance force” deployed in Ukraine to dissuade Russia from attacking again.
The Kremlin said he wanted to hear the United States directly before commenting on the cease-fire proposal. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, said Russia expected the United States “informing us about the details of the talks and the agreements that had been concluded”.
A call between Putin and Trump could be organized “very quickly,” said Peskov, but added that the White House had not yet asked for one.
On Wednesday, Russia’s foreign intelligence service said that its director Sergei Jarkshkin had spoken by phone with his American counterpart, CIA chief John Ratcliffe, the two agencies agreeing to maintain regular contact.
Even if the Russian forces continued to move forward in the Kursk region, progress on the rest of the front line seemed to stall. Ukrainian troops have succeeded in recent days to retain Russian assaults around the Pokrovsk logistics center and launched daring counterattacks towards the Tarretsk center, an industrial city of the Russian forces affected in August.
On the Pokrovsk front, an drone operator reacted to the news of the ceasefire suggested with a Ukrainian word: “Pobachymo ” – “We will see.”
Additional report by Raphael Minder in Warsaw, Henry Foy in Brussels and Felicia Schwartz in Washington; Cartography of Steven Bernard
