U.S. intelligence agencies denied statements by Trump and Putin regarding the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region - Reuters

U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have denied claims by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian troops were surrounded in the Kursk region. This is reported by Reuters, citing sources, reports UNN.

Details

According to the publication, Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region have lost ground in recent days, but there was no encirclement, as Trump and Putin claimed. According to a source in the publication, U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, shared this assessment with the White House over the past week, but Trump continues to claim that Ukrainian troops are surrounded in the Kursk region in western Russia.

According to U.S. and European intelligence estimates, Ukrainian troops have faced intense pressure from Russian forces, but they are not completely surrounded

The publication notes that experts called Putin's statement on March 13 that Ukrainian troops in Kursk were cut off and would eventually be forced to "surrender or die" disinformation designed to show that Russia is offering concessions, saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, which gives Putin leverage in ceasefire negotiations.

In a social media post on March 14, Trump said he asked the Russian president to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainians who he said were "completely surrounded" and vulnerable. Putin replied that he would do so if they surrendered. Trump repeated the statement about the "encirclement" of Ukrainian forces during a speech at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday and in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday

It is also noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied that Ukrainian troops are surrounded and said that Putin is lying about the real state of affairs on the ground. The Ukrainian leader acknowledged that his military is in a difficult situation in Kursk and that he expects further attacks from Russia, which is trying to push Ukrainian forces out of the region.

Although Russian forces appear to be gradually advancing in Kursk, Putin's statement on March 13 was not accurate

Addition

U.S. President Donald Trump said about productive negotiations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

In his post, Trump noted that "thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are completely surrounded by Russian soldiers, and in a very bad and vulnerable position".

"I strongly urged President Putin to spare their lives. It would be a terrible massacre, the likes of which has not been seen since World War II," Trump concluded.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that he had read the appeal of US President Donald Trump to "spare Ukrainian soldiers" in the Kursk region.

On March 18, Zelenskyy denied the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, which was previously claimed by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

The spokesman of the Siversk Operational and Tactical Group, Vadym Mysnyk, reported that a significant number of Russian units that were involved in the Kursk operation were observed moving towards the border near the Sumy region. The task of the Defense Forces is to strengthen the defense system as much as possible and continue to perform tasks both in the Kursk region and near the border.

On March 14, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine regrouped, retreated to more favorable defense lines and are performing their assigned tasks on the territory of the Kursk region.

Reminder

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russians want to completely push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk direction. They have increased the number of their troops there.