News
U.S. President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he had engaged in “productive discussions” with Vladimir Putin earlier today. According to Trump, “thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and [are] in a very bad and vulnerable position.”
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” Trump continued, adding that there is a ”very good chance” that this “horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later told reporters that it was not Trump himself who spoke with Putin on Thursday, March 13, but rather U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin met with Witkoff the previous evening and that Putin had “relayed information and additional signals for Donald Trump.”
However, military analysts — including pro-war Russian bloggers — observe no evidence that any Ukrainian military formation is currently encircled. This week, Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported the capture of the town of Sudzha and several other settlements in the Kursk Region, but both Russian military bloggers and Ukrainian analysts have noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) withdrew from the area without major battles or significant losses of equipment.
None of the widely followed Russian pro-military mapping channels show signs of an encirclement — and even pro-Kremlin war blogger Yuri Podolyaka has not mentioned one.
Some Russian pro-war channels expressed frustration over the absence of the promised Ukrainian “pocket” in Kursk Region, which had been hyped by certain pro-Russian sources. One Telegram channel, Zapiski Fotokorrespondenta (lit. “Notes of a photo correspondent”), posted in disbelief: “Where are the smoking columns of equipment (I repeat, columns) and the hundreds, maybe thousands, of enemy corpses ground to dust??? Where is the pocket??? Hello?? Who stole the pocket??” [Punctuation preserved as in the original – The Insider]
On March 13, Valery Gerasimov — Russia’s Chief of the General Staff and commander of the so-called “special military operation” — reported to Putin that the Ukrainian force in Kursk had been “isolated” and was undergoing “systematic destruction.” He also claimed that a “security zone” was being established in Ukraine’s Sumy Region, which borders Kursk. According to Gerasimov, 430 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner.
However, The Insider's analysis of available footage from pro-Russian sources in recent days identified only a few dozen captured Ukrainian troops. No signs of the “isolation” of any significant Ukrainian formations were found.
Also on March 13, during a joint press conference with Alexander Lukashenko, Putin declared that the Ukrainian forces who had entered Kursk Oblast were now “in full isolation”:
“[The Kursk Region] is completely under our control. The group that invaded our territory is in full isolation, and Ukrainian command in the incursion zone has been lost… Previously, Ukrainian troops attempted to withdraw in small groups, but this is no longer possible. Now, they move in twos and threes, as the entire area is under full fire control. Equipment has been abandoned and cannot be retrieved. If a complete blockade occurs in the coming days, they will have only two options — surrender or die. Under these conditions, securing a 30-day truce would be advantageous for the Ukrainian side.”
At the same time, Putin admitted that the fate of the supposedly encircled Ukrainian troops remained unclear.
“If we halt combat operations for 30 days, what does that mean? That everyone there will be allowed to leave without a fight? Are we supposed to let them go after they have committed numerous crimes against civilians? Or will the Ukrainian leadership order them to lay down their arms and surrender? How will this unfold? It is unclear.”