Statements about encirclement of Ukrainian troops in Kursk region are not true — General Staff

Kursk region, Russia. Photo: Belkin Alexey/Russian Look/news.ru/picture alliance

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has denied information about the alleged encirclement of Ukrainian units in the Kursk region by the Russian army, and noted that this is being created by the Russians for «political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and partners».

This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The statement claims that «the situation has not changed significantly over the day», and that hostilities in the operational area of the Ukrainian troops «Kursk» continue.

«The units of the Ukrainian Defence Forces have regrouped, moved to more favourable defensive positions and are performing their assigned tasks in the Kursk region. Our soldiers are repelling the enemy's offensive and inflicting effective fire damage from all types of weapons», the statement said.

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It was also added that since the beginning of the day there have been 13 combat engagements in the Kursk sector, and that there is no threat of encirclement of the Armed Forces units.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that on 13 March he spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the time, he said that according to the Russian president, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are currently completely surrounded by the Russian army in the Kursk direction and «in a very bad and vulnerable situation».

US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, held talks with Russian officials in Moscow. After the visit, he returned to the US to discuss the results of his meeting with Donald Trump.

As a reminder, Steve Witkoff's trip took place after the Ukrainian delegation met with US Secretary of State Mark Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Volz in Saudi Arabia. During the talks, Kyiv supported the idea of a temporary ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump said that a «semi-ceasefire had been reached in the war between Russia and Ukraine», and it was now important that Moscow agreed to it. Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the 30-day ceasefire would only work if the Kremlin agrees.

Moscow says it is not yet ready «to get ahead of itself» on the issue of ending hostilities. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitrii Peskov, Putin's chief international policy adviser Yurii Ushakov and US National Security Adviser Mike Volz had a telephone conversation the day before. It is also reported that Vladimir Putin may hold an international phone call on the evening of 13 March.

At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Vladimir Putin «is afraid to tell» US President Donald Trump directly that Russia wants to continue the war.