Kiiv, Ukraine (AP) – All Ukrainian troops have been forced from the Kursk region of Russia, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Valery Gerasimov, head of the general personnel of the Armed Forces of Russia, gave Russian president Vladimir Putin the news in a meeting on Saturday, Peskov told Interfax by Russian State News Interfax.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the claim.
In a statement, Putin congratulated Russian soldiers and commanders and said that kyiv’s incursion “had completely failed.”
“The complete defeat of our enemy along the border region of Kursk creates the right conditions for more successes for our troops and in other important areas of the front,” he said.
The Ukrainian army surprised Russia in August 2024 attacking through the border and taking control of an estimated 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) or land. The country’s leaders believed that the capture of the Russian territory could help in any future peace negotiation, but their profits were slowly eroded and the Ukrainian troops continued to lose control of the Terroughthout in early 2025.
Gerasimov also confirmed on Saturday that North Korean soldiers fought against Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region of Russia. Gerasimov said they separate in “shoulder shoulder combat missions with the Russian military duration of the Ukrainian incursion” and “demonstrated high professionalism, showed Foritue, courage and heroism in battle.”
The news occurs when the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodyyr Zenskyy, in the city of the Vatican, regardless of the Pope’s funeral to discuss a possible high fire agreement.
The presidents with the Basilica of San Pedro for about 15 minutes and agreed continuous negotiations later on Saturday, said Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nykyforov. The Communications Director of the White House, Steven Cheung, also confirmed the meeting.
Shortly after arriving in Rome last Friday, Trump said on social networks that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high level conversations” at the end of the three -year war caused by the invasion of Russia. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, with Russian President Vladimir Putin on early Friday, and Trump said both parties were “very close to an agreement.”
Three people were killed during the night by Russian attacks in Ukraine, local authorities said on Saturday.
Two people died in a strike in the city of Yarova in the East Region of Donetsk of Ukraine, said local governor Vadym Flashkin in a publication on social networks. Another person died in the Dnipropetrovsk region, said the Government Serhiy Lysak. Six people were injured, including an 88 -year -old woman and an 11 -year -old girl, she said.
Russia launched three missiles and 114 drones about Ukraine during the night, wrote the Ukraine Air Force in a statement on Saturday. Sixty -six drones were destroyed and another 31 lure drones failed to reach their destination.
Meanwhile, Russian aerial defenses knocked 45 Ukrainian drones during the night, said the country’s ministry of defense.
