Kiev, 15 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed claims that his troops are surrounded by Russian forces in the Russian region of Kursk on Saturday.

"There is no encirclement of our troops," Zelensky wrote on the platform X, confirming what the Kiev general staff had already said on Friday.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state news agency TASS that time was running out for the Ukrainian forces fighting in Kursk. He added that the offer to spare the lives of Ukrainian troops still stands but would not last indefinitely.

US President Donald Trump had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers said to be surrounded in Kursk. Putin agreed, but demanded that the leadership in Kiev order the Ukrainian soldiers in the region to lay down their weapons and surrender.

Reports about the situation in Kursk cannot be independently verified.

Zelensky: Operations continue in some parts of Kursk

Zelensky had previously indicated that his army would have to withdraw from the region, saying "I can only thank our fighters for this operation, which has fulfilled its task."

He now said, operations continue in designated areas of Kursk and troops are carrying out their tasks as required. He wrote that thanks to the soldiers there, a considerable number of Russian forces have been withdrawn from other areas.

Ukraine took the war into Russian territory in a surprise attack last August. The original justification for the move was to be able to exchange the occupied territories for occupied Ukrainian territory in the event of possible negotiations with Russia.

Zelensky did not comment on the situation in the Russian city of Sudzha in the region, where Ukrainian troops had retreated from, according to the Saturday report by the Ukrainian General Staff.

The Russian army is building up forces at the eastern border of Ukraine, he said, indicating that they intend to attack the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

"The build-up of Russian forces indicates that Moscow intends to keep ignoring diplomacy. It is clear that Russia is prolonging the war," he added.

Photo: epa