Following a telephone discussion with President Donald Trump on Thursday where Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in their Kursk Region of Russia, Putin ordered Kiev’s forces to surrender.
“If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” Putin said.
Putin also said that these soldiers, which are now surrounded by Russian forces, committed numerous crimes against civilians while occupying Kursk and that Russian authorities are treating these as acts of terrorism, something Putin has said previously as well.
Trump said in a social media post that Russian forces have the ability to wipe these Ukrainian forces out, however if they did, “[it] would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” Trump said.