Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Moscow claimed to have completely recaptured the region following a surprise incursion by Ukrainian forces last year, Russian state media reported on Wednesday.
Putin met with municipal leaders in the city of Kurchatov and visited the Kursk nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction, the Kremlin said, according to TASS news agency.
Video footage posted by Russian state media showed Putin dressed in a suit speaking with what appeared to be local volunteers.
Putin said Ukrainian forces were still trying to move towards the Russian border, according to RIA Novosti news agency.
Putin also ordered an increase in the number of demining units in Kursk so displaced residents can return home, RIA Novosti reported.
A video of the visit released by the Kremlin suggested Putin was in Kursk on Tuesday.
Last August Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Kursk, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.
Since then, Russia, with support from North Korean soldiers, has been fighting to oust Ukraine’s forces from its borders, while Kyiv poured precious resources into holding onto its territory there, with the view of using it as a key bargaining chip in any peace talks.
Putin claimed last month that Russian forces had recaptured Kursk and said North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover territory in the region.
Kyiv has insisted its troops are fiercely battling to preserve their foothold in the territory.
Last week Ukraine said it is still pursuing the ground war inside Russia.
“We are continuing our active operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions – we are proactively defending Ukraine’s border areas,” President Zelensky said in his nightly address last Wednesday.
Putin spoke with US President Donald Trump on Monday, and again refused to commit to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Washington and Kyiv.
He said the Kremlin was ready to work with Ukraine on a “possible ceasefire for a certain period of time,” but neither Putin nor Trump discussed a timeframe for a possible truce, said Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov.
Following the call, the European Union announced new sanctions against nearly 200 vessels in Russia’s so-called “shadow-fleet” of tankers it says transport Russian oil for export to avoid Western sanctions.
Separately, Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of launching drone attacks on each other’s territory overnight into Wednesday.
Ukraine said it has destroyed 63 of the 76 long-range drones that Russia used to attack it last night.
Russia said it destroyed 159 Ukrainian attack drones over their territory.
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