Russia will save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in the western Kursk region of the country if Kiev asks them to income, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday after US President Donald Trump said he appealed to avoid a “horrible massacre” in the region.
Ukraine denied that its men were surrounded, describing this as a Russian invention, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the situation “very difficult.”
Trump, in a social media publication, said he had asked the Russian President to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainians who, he said, were “completely surrounded” and vulnerable.
“I vehemently asked President Putin to save his lives. That would be a horrible massacre, never seen since World War II, ”he said.
Putin, heading for his security advice, said he had read Trump’s appeal. While accusing the Ukrainian troops of committing crimes against civilians who, according to him, is equivalent to “terrorism” – something Kiev denies – Putin said he understood Trump’s appeal to take into account humanitarian considerations.
“In this sense, I would like to emphasize that if (the Ukrainian troops) will testify their weapons and surrender, they will have a guarantee of decent life and treatment according to international law and the laws of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
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“To effectively implement the US President’s appeal, a corresponding order of Ukraine’s political-military leadership is required to make their military units deponent their weapons and income.”
Russian Security Council vice president, former President Dmitry Medvedev, published on social media that the disadvantage for the Ukrainian military was that “if they refuse to testify the weapons, they will all be methodically and ruthlessly destroyed.”
