London – Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Command Centre in Kursk on Wednesday, where he ordered the “destroy” all remaining Ukrainian layers in the military-contested border area.
“Your job is to completely destroy the enemy. The enemy is settled in the Kursk region, and is fighting war here, fully liberating the territory of the Kursk region within the shortest possible time.”
“We need to restore our previous status along the boundary,” the president said. “I hope that all combat targets facing your combat forces will be achieved unconditionally and that the territory of the Kursk region will completely eliminate the enemy in the near future.”
The Ukrainian forces were forced into Kursk in a surprising attack in August, seizing the town of Suda and its surrounding villages. Kiev’s troops have repelled Russia’s anti-offensive months, but in recent weeks their prominent collapse and the Russian army has taken a major position.
The drone view shows an army waving a flag in a water tower in the heart of Skascha in the West Kursk region of Russia on March 12, 2025.
Social Media/via Reuters
On Wednesday, Russian forces raised their flags over Sudasuha in the center as Ukrainian forces quickly retreated towards the shared border.
The success of the Russian battlefield in Kursk comes when the US pushes both Moscow and Kiev and returns to peace negotiations. This week, Ukraine and the US agreed to the possibility of a 30-day ceasefire, and American representatives also put proposals into the non-committed Kremlin.
Russian officials have shown that while either Kursk is under Ukraine’s control, they are not engaged in peace talks. Kiev wanted to use territorial occupation as leverage for negotiations, but there the footprint is rapidly shrinking.
On Wednesday, Putin said he would “give special ideas in the future about creating security zones along the state’s borders” to prevent repeated Ukraine invasions. Putin said prisoners photographed on Russian territory would be treated “as terrorists,” adding that “foreign mercenaries” were not protected under the Geneva treaty.
President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkov is expected to see the administration this week in Moscow for a ceasefire and a wider peace deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about Russia following the US-Ukraine agreement on a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ball “really is in their court.”
The image was taken from handouts released by the Kremlin on March 12, 2025, and Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the commander of a group of Kursk forces involved in the anti-attacks in the Kursk region.
Through HANDOUT/KREMLIN.RU/AFP Getty Images
The Kremlin was uncommitted. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that officials had “scrutinized” the public statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russia added that it “doesn’t want to preempt itself” on the potential ceasefire.
On Thursday, Peskov confirmed that American negotiators were traveling to Moscow. “Contact information is planned,” Peskov told a briefing at the press conference, adding potential results. Peskov did not say whether Witkov would meet with Putin.
Trump’s push for peace — twins for intense public criticism of Ukraine and President Voldimi Zelensky — has been welcomed by American allies, but leaders are turbulent by the president’s apparent alliance with Russia’s false narrative of conflict.
Rubio will meet with the G7 Foreign Minister in Quebec, Canada on Thursday. His presence at the conference also lies in Trump’s spiral trade war with American northern neighbours, as well as the president’s repeated proposal to make Canada absorbed by the US and become the 51st state.
The G7 event is “not a meeting on how to take over Canada,” Rubio said Wednesday that the Associated Press cited.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive at Jean-Reserge International Airport, Quebec, for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Quebec, Canada on March 12, 2025.
Saul Roeb/via Reuters
However, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolly said “every meeting will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate responses with Europeans and put pressure on Americans.”
“It seems like President Trump’s story is that the only constant in this unfair trade war is annexing our country through economic coercion,” Jolie said. “Yesterday, he called our borders fictitious lines and repeated his rude 51st state rhetoric.”
Tanya Stukalova, Patrick Reevell and Will Gretsky of ABC News contributed to this report.
