Putin says Ukrainians must ‘surrender or die’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had trapped the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region, where they have held on for more than seven months in one of the most important battles of the war.
Putin told reporters in Moscow that the situation in Kursk was “completely under our control, and the group that invaded our territory is in isolation,” according to Reuters.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk last August to divert Russian forces away from the front lines and grab land to trade for its own occupied territory. Ukraine’s top commander denied this week that his men were being encircled.
Putin on Wednesday made a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region Wednesday, ordering soldiers to swiftly retake the region from Ukrainian forces.
“If a physical blockade occurs in the coming days, then no one will be able to leave at all, there will be only two ways — to surrender or die,” Putin said at the Thursday press conference, according to Reuters.
At the press conference, Putin also offered his qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire plan.
Putin’s comments came after Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, officials said Thursday.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that his region came under attack by Russian drones and shelling, and that one other person was injured.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said at least three people were hospitalized after a Russian attack hit the city of Dnipro.
Lysak said on Telegram the attack damaged multiple apartment buildings, including blowing out windows.
Officials in the Sumy region reported Thursday that Russian drones fell on a set of garages, setting about 20 of them on fire.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 74 of the 117 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.
The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the military said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones, most of them in regions located along the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, said the attacks injured one person and damaged an industrial building, a communication tower and a power line.
The Russia military said it destroyed 30 of the drones over Bryansk, while officials in the region reported no damage or casualties.
Russian air defense also shot down drones over Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, the military said.
The daily aerial attacks continue amid a U.S. push to secure a cease-fire in the conflict. The U.S. has proposed a 30-day halt in fighting, which Ukraine has said it would accept.
U.S. officials are expected to discuss the plan with Russian officials in the coming days.
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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