Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forth a condition to spare Ukrainian soldiers after Trump “strongly” appealed for the same. Putin wants Ukrainian soldiers to surrender.
Following US President Donald Trump’s request to spare Ukrainian soldiers, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said for this “request” to be implemented, the leaders of Ukraine need to order their military units to “lay down their arms and surrender.”
Putin’s response comes after Trump urged Putin, as he wrote on Truth Social, “I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared.”
Putin has demanded the Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region to surrender, the New York Times reported. The Russian leader met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the situation. Following the meeting, Russian and US officials expressed “cautious optimism” about the ongoing negotiations.
Meanwhile, both Trump and Putin have underscored that Ukrainian forces were surrounded in Kursk, the region where Ukrainian troops had conducted a cross-border incursion last summer.
However, Ukrainian authorities and independent analysts have disputed these claims. On Friday, Ukraine’s military issued a statement saying, “There is no threat of encirclement of our units,” calling such reports “false and fabricated by the Russians.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Ukrainian soldier said that the situation in the region was “bad, almost critical,” but said it was not as dire as Trump had suggested.
Despite Putin’s condition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not given any indication of surrender. However, he acknowledged, “The situation is very difficult.”
He accused Putin of working to sabotage diplomatic efforts, writing on social media, “Putin cannot get out of this war, because then he will be left with nothing. That is why he is now doing everything possible to sabotage diplomacy, setting extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions from the very beginning, even before the cease-fire.”
Trump has expressed optimism regarding the prospects of peace, but US officials have remained measured in their outlook.
(With inputs from ANI)
