Putin Agrees To Spare Trapped Ukrainian Troops, But Only If They Surrender

US President Donald Trump on Friday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to save the Ukrainian troops trapped by Russian forces in the Kursk province, a call Putin indicated he would give serious consideration to provided it included surrender.

Trump issued the appeal on Twitter after a senior-level meeting in Moscow on Thursday evening between his representative, Steve Witkoff, and Putin. “The discussions were very good and productive,” Trump said, hinting at hope for the cessation of the war.

“There is a very good possibility that this nasty, bloody war can finally end,” Trump stated, referring to an American-backed ceasefire proposal which Ukraine has already signed and Russia is considering. He went on to say that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk were “totally surrounded” and in a terrible predicament.

“I have asked very strongly to President Putin that their lives be spared. It would be a terrible massacre, one that would be like World War II,” Trump said.

Though military experts verify that Ukrainian troops in Kursk are in a vulnerable situation, Kyiv’s army maintains there is no danger of encirclement and troops are redeploying tactically.

Putin accused Ukrainian troops of committing atrocities against civilians in Kursk charges denied by Kyiv but accepted Trump’s call for humanitarian treatment. He said that troops who surrendered would be given life and a fair trial under Russian and international law. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cautioned, however, that those who do not surrender will be “methodically and mercilessly destroyed.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, addressing a G7 summit in Canada, assured that the talks regarding Ukraine’s plight would go on during the weekend as Witkoff comes back from Moscow.