Trump's Putin Response To Kursk: If Ukrainian Soldiers Surrender, They Will Live

Russia/TASS Kursk Condition

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump urged Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to save Ukrainian troops expelled by Russia from the Kursk region.

Trump posted on social media after his envoy, Steve Witkoff, held a lengthy meeting with Putin on Thursday night in Moscow that Trump described as "very good and productive".

"It is very likely that this terrible and bloody war will eventually end," Trump said, referring to the proposed US ceasefire Ukraine received this week and is being considered by Russia.

"I have sincerely asked President Putin for their lives to be forgiven. This will be a terrible massacre, which has never happened since World War II. May God bless them all!!," Trump continued.

Military analysts say Ukrainian forces in Kursk are close to being cut off after losing territory quickly in what was previously their only previously their only foothold in Russian territory.

Putin accused Ukrainian forces of crimes against civilians in Kursk, something Kyiv denies.

However, the Russian president said he understood Trump's call to consider humanitarian considerations.

"In this case, I would like to emphasize that if (Ukraine forces) put down arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed to live and be treated properly by international law and the laws of the Russian Federation," Putin said.

Deputy chairman of Russia's security council who is also former President Dmitry Medvedev, posted on social media that if Ukrainian forces "refuse to lay down arms, they will all be destroyed methodically and tirelessly."

However, the Kyiv military said there was no threat of siege, and its troops were pulled back into a better position.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at a G7 meeting at La Malbaie, Canada, said Witkoff would return to the United States from Moscow and there might be discussions about Ukraine over the weekend.

"But we certainly feel at least we are a few steps closer to ending this war and bringing peace. But it's still a long way to go," he told reporters.