Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses commanders at a control center of his armed forces in Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday. (Reuters TV)
Ahead of talks with U.S. officials over a proposed 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a defiant military message when he made a rare appearance in a camouflage uniform to mark Russian advances against Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of southern Russia.
Ukraine’s seven-month-old occupation of a sliver of Russian territory in the Kursk region may be nearing an end as Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, said the operation to evict enemy forces was in its final stages.
With the Russian Defense Ministry announcing Thursday the retaking of Sudzha — the largest town under Ukrainian control — Moscow looks set to strip Kyiv of a territorial bargaining chip that it has hoped to use in peace talks that are being brokered by the Trump administration.
Ukraine’s army chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, countered on Wednesday that combat operations continue in the Kursk region, even as the Russian offensive is pushing steadily forward. He said Russia has “almost completely destroyed” the town of Sudzha with its aerial bombardment.
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As of Wednesday evening, Ukrainian troops had fought off eight Russian assaults. “Trying to achieve political goals at all costs, the enemy has already suffered and continues to suffer significant losses in the Kursk region,” Syrsky said on Telegram.
A plane carrying Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy dealing with Russia in the peace effort, landed in Moscow on Thursday. Ukraine has already agreed to the U.S.-proposed ceasefire.
The Kremlin has not indicated its stance on the ceasefire, and the Foreign Ministry said Thursday it is ready to discuss it. Putin, however, has previously ruled this out, and his donning of an army uniform was seen as underscoring his uncompromising approach to the war and conviction that Russia has the upper hand.
Russian analysts predict that the Kremlin will demand tough new conditions for a ceasefire, such as a halt to U.S. military aid to Ukraine during the ceasefire. This condition would be difficult for Kyiv to accept — and if endorsed by Washington could once again open the Trump administration to criticisms of a lopsided approach favoring Putin.
In an official video that the Kremlin said showed Putin visiting a command point in the Kursk region, Putin ordered Gerasimov to drive Ukrainian forces from the region as quickly as possible and to “completely destroy the enemy.”
“The previous status along the border must be restored,” Putin said. Any captured prisoners should be treated as terrorists, he added, fueling concerns about Russian mistreatment of prisoners after widespread allegations of torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces.
Russia has routinely described Ukrainian attacks on its territory as terrorism, although Moscow launched the invasion and has used missiles and glide bombs to destroy Ukrainian energy infrastructure, attack apartments and destroy cities and towns.
Ukraine’s August incursion and occupation of Russian territory shattered Putin’s often-stated red line that attacks on Russian territory were unacceptable, and Russia was forced to deploy North Korean troops to the region in an effort to win back the territory.
Gerasimov said that Kyiv “aimed to create a so-called strategic foothold in the Kursk region to use it later as a bargaining chip in the potential talks with Russia.”
“The plan of our enemy has failed.”
Russia’s terms for a peace deal have so far remained sweeping and inflexible, including shutting Ukraine out of NATO, recognition of Russia’s land grab as legitimate and demilitarizing Ukraine, leaving it with a small army incapable of deterring future attacks.