Putin visits Kursk province, issues new orders to Russian army

Moscow [Russia], March 13: Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 12 made his first visit to Russia's Kursk province since the Ukrainian army launched a surprise attack on the province.
President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of the Kursk Operational Group and listened to a report from Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. This is Putin's first visit to Kursk province since the Ukrainian army launched a surprise attack on the province on August 6, 2024, according to TASS News Agency.
At the headquarters of the Kursk Operational Group, Mr Putin stressed that the Russian military must defeat "the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region and engaging in military operations there", and that it must do so as soon as possible. He also stressed that the Kursk region must be completely liberated and the situation along the border must be restored. "And of course, we must also think about creating a security zone along the state border in the future," Mr Putin said.
"I hope that the combat tasks facing our forces will certainly be completed and the Kursk region will be completely liberated from the enemy in the near future," TASS quoted Putin as saying.
Mr Gerasimov reported to President Putin that Ukrainian forces in Kursk province were surrounded and "are being constantly destroyed". Mr Gerasimov also reported that the Kursk Operational Group "liberated 24 settlements and 259 square kilometers in Kursk province in the past five days".
"More than 1,100 square kilometers , or more than 86 percent of the territory initially occupied by the enemy, have been liberated during offensive operations. The enemy has lost more than 67,000 troops since the start of fighting in the Kursk region, including some of the most well-trained and motivated Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries," Gerasimov reported to President Putin. Gerasimov asserted that the area controlled by the Ukrainian army in Kursk has decreased by more than 2.5 times.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Putin's comments or Gerasimov's report. Meanwhile, Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi signaled on March 12 that some of his troops were withdrawing from the province, after Moscow announced a rapid advance there in recent days, according to AFP.
"In the most difficult situation, my priority remains to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. To achieve this goal, units of the defense forces, if necessary, will be moved to more advantageous positions," Syrsky wrote on Facebook. Syrskyi affirmed that there was no direct threat of encirclement of Ukrainian soldiers, and that some settlements that Russia claimed to have recaptured were in fact no longer in existence due to shelling.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper