The US president has again pleaded with Moscow to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers surrounded in Russia’s Kursk Region

US President Donald Trump has said it is “unbelievable” how Russian forces managed to encircle so many Ukrainian troops despite the extensive financial and military support Washington has provided to Kiev over the years.

Kiev launched a major incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in August 2024, capturing the town of Sudzha and dozens of villages in what a number of Ukrainian officials described as an attempt to gain leverage for future peace talks. As of Wednesday evening, Russian forces had retaken 86% of the territory, with the remaining Ukrainian units largely “encircled” and “isolated,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry, which did not disclose the number of troops surrounded.

“Russia has a large group of Ukrainian soldiers, as we speak, surrounded and in grave danger. They’ve been able to surround them,” Trump said in a speech at the Justice Department on Friday, adding that his predecessor, Joe Biden, “should have never let this war happen.”

“First of all, you don’t want to pick on somebody that’s a lot larger than you, even with the money. There’s a lot of money that we gave them and a lot of equipment. We make the best military equipment in the world, but even with all of that… It’s unbelievable,” Trump said.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in the day that he is “sympathetic” to Trump’s plea for Moscow to spare the lives of the Ukrainian soldiers, but added that for his call to be “effectively heeded,” Kiev must order its troops 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.

The Russian leader also stated that the Ukrainian forces committed “numerous crimes against civilians” during their incursion into Kursk Region and that Russian law enforcement is treating their actions as “terrorism.”

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to stop the bloodshed as quickly as possible. Last month, he even expelled Vladimir Zelensky from the White House, accusing the Ukrainian leader of being too emboldened by US assistance and not being ready for peace.

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Following talks in Saudi Arabia this week, held without Zelensky, Kiev agreed to Washington’s proposal for a 30-day truce, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivering the details of the initiative to Moscow on Thursday.

Putin said Moscow is open to the idea but stressed that many issues need to be addressed beforehand, including the fate of the Ukrainian incursion forces.

Trump indicated that he is optimistic about the signals coming from Moscow, noting in a separate interview on Friday that negotiations were going “reasonably” well. “We’ll know a little bit more on Monday, and that’ll be, hopefully, good,” he added.