Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk region today for the first time since the surprise invasion of Ukrainian troops into the Russian border region in August last year, TASS reported, citing his press secretary Dmitry Peskov, BTA reported.
The visit was made against the backdrop of Russian military successes in the Kursk region recently. Putin held a meeting at one of the command posts of Russia's Kursk Group of Forces and listened to a report by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov.
He reported to the president that more than 1,100 square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region had been liberated - over 86% of the area in the western Russian region that had been captured by the enemy.
The Ukrainian armed forces have lost more than 67,000 servicemen in the Kursk region, including their best-trained and motivated soldiers, Gerasimov also said. These data have not been independently verified.
The Ukrainian armed forces will continue to fight in the Kursk region "as long as it is appropriate and necessary," their commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Facebook, as quoted by Reuters. He said fighting was continuing in and around the town of Sudzha. Ukrainian units were being moved "to more favorable positions if necessary," Syrsky said. He stressed that the lives of soldiers were a priority.