President Donald Trump has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare thousands of Ukrainian troops that he says have become surrounded by Russian forces.
Trump’s appeal for Russia to spare Ukrainian troops comes as he has worked to broker a 30-day ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.
Taking to his Truth Social platform on March 14, Trump said his administration has had recent productive talks with Putin’s team “there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
“BUT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION,” Trump wrote. “I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!”
Trump didn’t say where these thousands of Ukrainian troops had become surrounded, but the post comes as Russia has claimed rapid progress retaking its Kursk border region.
Ukrainian forces first entered Russia’s Kursk territory in August and have continued to hold out over an ever-shrinking area since. In the past week, Russia has reported infiltrating Ukrainian lines around the Kursk town of Sudzha, and retaking at least a dozen surrounding villages.
On March 11, Russia’s official TASS news agency reported more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in the Kursk region. On March 14, TASS reported up to 12 more Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered in the past day.
Putin repeatedly referenced the Kursk battle zone as he discussed the U.S.-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal at a Kremlin press conference on March 13. During this remarks, Putin claimed his troops have isolated Ukraine’s incursion force, overmatching them with firepower and cutting off avenues of retreat.
As he addressed the ceasefire proposal, Putin asked what would he should do about the Ukrainian troops still remaining in the Kursk region.
“Does this mean that everyone who is in there will just walk out without a fight? Do we have to let them go after they committed numerous heinous crimes against civilians? Or will the Ukrainian leadership issue a command for them to lay down their arms and just surrender?” Putin asked.
Putin also raised concerns about the Ukrainian side using the temporary ceasefire as an opportunity to rearm, mobilize, and train more troops to continue fighting.
While Trump called on Putin to spare Ukraine’s forces, the Ukrainian military leadership is denying its forces are even surrounded.
“Reports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units by the enemy in the Kursk region are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff wrote in a March 14 Facebook post.
Ukraine’s military leadership claimed its forces in the Kursk region “have successfully regrouped, withdrawn to more advantageous defensive positions, and are executing their assigned tasks within the Kursk region.”
In remarks shared by Ukraine’s official state news agency, Ukrinform, on March 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged “the situation in Kursk is clearly very difficult.”
Despite the shifting battle lines in the Kursk region, Zelenskyy claimed the decision to send Ukrainian forces to hold Russian territory helped diminish some of the pressure Russian forces had placed on the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.
“I believe that it has accomplished its task. I think that the situation in the Pokrovsk direction is now stable, and it will be very difficult to find an opportunity to occupy Pokrovsk again,” Zelenskyy said.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
