Putin Urges Ukrainian Troops in Russia to Surrender, Citing Trump’s Appeal (Worthy News Focus)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian troops suffering setbacks in Russia’s border region of Kursk to surrender and said he was open to U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s request to “spare their lives.” Putin also announced he could agree on a ceasefire with Ukraine “with nuances” after a Kremlin official suggested he was “cautiously optimistic” about a deal, though Kyiv remaimed sceptical.
“If they lay down their arms and surrender, their lives will be guaranteed, and they will be treated with dignity,” the Russian president stated Friday. He also urged Ukrainian leaders to order their troops to surrender, a view shared by Trump. “At this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military and in a very bad and vulnerable position,” Trump wrote in all capital letters on his Truth Social media platform, monitored by Worthy News.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!,” he added.
“Thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military,” Trump wrote in all capital letters on his Truth Social media platform. He added that he asked Putin to spare the lives of the Ukrainian troops.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that his forces in partially occupied Kursk are in serious trouble, describing the situation as “very difficult.”
However, Ukraine has denied Trump’s assertion that Russian forces have encircled its troops.
Yet several sources indicated that thousands have withdrawn from key positions.
ATTACKING TROOPS
After hammering Ukrainian troops for days around Sudzha, Russian forces retook the town in the Kursk region, Russian officials claimed Thursday.
If current trends continue, Russian forces could soon recapture the entire area that Ukrainian troops had occupied since August, explained the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group that publishes daily assessments of the conflict.
Russia had steadily built up a large force around Kursk since Ukrainians seized the area in August, with an estimated 78,000 Russian and North Korean troops on the ground, according to the research group.
Ukrainian troops seized the area inside Russia, just over Ukraine’s eastern border, last year in an audacious move that embarrassed Moscow. It was the first time a nation had captured Russian land since World War II.
However, losing control of the Kursk region would be a blow for Kyiv, as the Ukrainian government viewed the area as valuable leverage in future peace talks.
Over the past 11 days, Russian forces stepped up ground and air attacks on the Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region from multiple directions, two Western officials and a military analyst said.
European officials and analysts say the intensified offensive was launched after the Trump administration temporarily suspended military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv.
ASSISTANCE RESTORED
The U.S. assistance was restored on Wednesday after the Trump administration said it was satisfied Ukraine’s government was ready to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who met U.S. delegates in Saudi Arabia this week, said his country supports a 30-day ceasefire toward lasting peace. But he accused Russia of “deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process.”
As Ukrainian troops came under pressure in Kursk, Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Putin in Moscow on Thursday to try to advance the proposed ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesperson said afterward that there were “reasons to be cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for ending the war.
Before meeting Witkoff, Putin said that although “in theory” he accepted the ceasefire on the table, he said many “nuances” had to be worked out, including the fate of Ukrainian troops in Kursk.
European officials and Kyiv suggested that Putin appeared to be trying to complicate the negotiations to buy time for Russian forces as they advance in Kursk.
Referring to the Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, Putin asked what would happen to the troops if a ceasefire was agreed upon. “Will all those who are there come out without a fight? Or will the Ukrainian leadership order them to lay down arms and surrender?”
However, President Trump didn’t give up hope. “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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