Russia TOP General said that all Ukrainian troops have been forced from certain parts of the Kursk Russia region, that Moscow lost last year to a surprise Ukrainian foray.
Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff general of the Russian armed forces, gave Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday at a meeting, the Russian state interfax media told Peskov.
In a statement, Putin congratulated Russian soldiers and commanders and said that the kyiv foray has “completely failed”.
“The complete defeat of our enemy along the border region of Kursk creates the right conditions for new successes for our troops and in other important areas on the front,” he said.
Ukrainian officials, however, denied the complaint, saying that the fighting continued. “The declarations of the representatives of the high command of the country of aggressor on the end of hostilities in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation are not true,” the general staff of Ukraine said on Saturday.
“The defensive functioning of the Ukrainian defense forces in certain regions of the Kursk region continues. The operational situation is difficult, but our units continue to have designated positions and carry out assigned tasks, while inflicting effective shooting damage to the enemy with all types of weapons, including the use of active defense tactics, “he added.
The Ukrainian army amazed Russia in August 2024 by attacking through the border and taking control of approximately 1,300 square kilometers of land. The country's leaders thought that the capture of the Russian territory could help any future peace negotiations, but their gains were slowly eroded and the Ukrainian troops continued to lose control of the territory at the beginning of 2025.
The news comes as American President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in the Vatican city on the sidelines of the Pope's funeral to discuss a potential cease-fire agreement.
Russia admits the presence of North Korean troops
Gerasimov also confirmed on Saturday that North Korean soldiers fought against Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region in Russia. Gerasimov said they had participated in “the shoulder of shoulder combat missions with Russian soldiers during the reparation of the Ukrainian foray” and “demonstrated great professionalism, shown courage, courage and heroism in combat”.
In the fall, Ukraine, the United States and South Korea all declared that North Korea, which had previously provided weapons in Moscow, had deployed 10,000 to 12,000 of its troops in Russia to fight in Kursk.
Until now, Moscow and Pyongyang have so far responded vaguely to the South Korean and Western demands for the deployment of troops, stressing that their military cooperation is in accordance with international law, without directly admitting the presence of North Korean forces in Russia.
Attacks against Ukraine continue
In Ukraine, three people were killed during the night by Russian attacks across the country, local officials also said.
Two people died in a strike on the city of Yarova in the Donetk Eastern region of Ukraine, said local governor Vadym Filashkin in an article on social networks. Another person died in the Dnipropetrovsk region, said Gov Serhiy Lysak. Six people were injured, including an 88-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl, he said.
Russia launched three missiles and 114 drones during Ukraine during the night, wrote in a statement on Saturday. 66 drones were destroyed and 31 other lure drones did not reach their destination.
Meanwhile, the Russian air defenses shot 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, the country's defense ministry said.
