President Vladimir Putin has visited the border region of Kursk for the first time since Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from the area last month, the Kremlin said.
Ukrainian forces made an incursion into the Kursk region in August 2024 in one of their boldest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war.
At the height of the incursion, Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometres (540 square miles) of Kursk.
During Tuesday’s “working visit”, Putin met volunteer organisations in Kursk and inspected a nuclear power plant in the region, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it had struck a semiconductor device plant in a drone attack on Russia’s Oryol region.
Vladimir Putin has made his first trip to the Kursk border region since Russian forces drove Ukrainian troops out of the region last month, according to the Kremlin.
In one of their most audacious military victories in the more than three-year conflict, Ukrainian forces invaded the Kursk region in August 2024. For the first time since World War II, an invader has taken over Russian territory.
Apart from Kursk, Russia has dominated the battlefield since the end of 2023.
Nearly 1,400 square kilometers (540 square miles) of Kursk were occupied by Ukrainian forces during the height of the invasion.
The Russian government declared in late April that it had driven Ukrainian troops out of the area.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Putin visited a nuclear power plant in the area and met with volunteer organizations in Kursk during his “working visit” on Tuesday.
Putin was seen meeting with local officials and volunteers in the area, including acting governor Alexander Khinshtein, on Russian state television.
Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy chief of staff at the Kremlin, accompanied Putin.
Ukraine’s national guard said on Wednesday that a missile attack on Tuesday had killed at least six servicemen and injured ten more.
“The incident is being looked into internally. The military unit’s commander has been placed on leave, and law enforcement has been provided with the relevant information,” a statement from Ukraine’s national guard stated.
Attacks on Ukraine’s border region of Sumy have gotten more intense in recent months. On Tuesday night, Russia’s defense ministry announced that it had attacked the Ukrainian location with ballistic missiles.
It claimed in a social media post that “a training camp” for Ukrainian special forces had been “detected” during reconnaissance operations.
An Iskander missile strike was initiated using the coordinates that were received. “”.
Additionally, Russia released video of the strike on what it claimed was a training camp in a forested area.
A single strike was captured on camera, igniting a massive fire and sending a plume of dense black smoke skyward.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Russia’s military claimed to have intercepted 159 drones that Ukraine had launched over a 12-hour period, targeting various Russian regions, including Moscow.
The defense ministry said the drones were launched on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, primarily targeting Russian areas that border Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military claimed to have launched a drone attack on Russia’s Oryol region, hitting a semiconductor device plant.
The military posted on Telegram that ten drones had arrived at the target location and that a fire had started. The plant supplies a number of businesses, including some that produce Iskander and Kinzhal missiles.
Two days prior, a phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had failed to secure a ceasefire in the three-year conflict.
Moscow has been under pressure from European diplomats to accept a ceasefire.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has charged that the Kremlin is stalling in order to carry out its offensive.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that he anticipated Russia would provide a ceasefire plan for Ukraine in a matter of days, demonstrating its seriousness.
