Putin visited Russia's Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it
drove out Ukrainian forces
[May 21, 2025]
By The Associated Press
President Vladimir Putin visited Russia's Kursk region for the first
time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area
last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according
to the Kremlin.
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in
one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year
war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by
an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the
Kremlin.
Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the
battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.
North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back
control of Kursk, according to Ukraine, the U.S. and South Korea. Russia
announced on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army.
Kyiv officials denied the claim.
The Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday that its forces repelled
13 Russian assaults in Kursk. Its map of military activity showed
Ukrainian troops holding a thin line of land hard against the border but
still inside Russia.
Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in
control of the conflict — even though its full-scale invasion of its
neighbor has been slow and costly in terms of casualties and equipment —
amid recent U.S. and European proposals for a ceasefire that Putin has
effectively rejected.
Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk
Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and met with
selected volunteers behind closed doors.
Many of the volunteers wore clothes emblazoned with the Russian flag and
the Latin letters “Z” and “V”, which are symbols of Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
“What you are doing now during this difficult situation for this region,
for this area, and for the country, will remain with you for the rest of
your life as, perhaps, the most meaningful thing with which you were
ever involved,” Putin said as he drank tea with the volunteers.
Ukraine's surprise thrust into Kursk and its ability to hold land there
was a logistical feat, carried out in secrecy, that countered months of
gloomy news from the front about Ukrainian forces being pushed backward
by the bigger Russian army.
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In this photo released by the Russian Presidential Press Service on
Wednesday, May 21, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd left,
attends a meeting with volunteers at Kursk region, Russia. (Russian
Presidential Press Service via AP)
Kyiv's strategy aimed to show that Russia has weaknesses and that
the war isn't lost. It also sought to distract Russian forces from
their onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
The move was fraught with risk. Analysts noted that it could
backfire and open a door for Russian advances in Ukraine by further
stretching Ukrainian forces that are short-handed along the roughly
1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamics of the war.
Putin told acting Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin
supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced
families that still couldn't return to their homes.
Putin said that he would back a proposal to build a museum in the
region to celebrate what acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein described
as “the heroism of our defenders and the heroism of the region’s
residents.”
Disgruntled residents had previously shown their disapproval over a
lack of compensation in rare organized protests.
Putin last visited the Kursk region in March, when Ukrainian troops
still controlled some parts of the area. He wore military fatigues –
a rarely seen sight for the Russian leader, who usually wears a suit
– and visited the area’s military headquarters where he was filmed
with top generals.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its air defenses shot down
159 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, including 53 over
the Oryol region and 51 over the Bryansk region.
In Ukraine, Russian drone attacks killed two people and wounded five
others in the northern Sumy region, the regional administration
said.
In the Kyiv region, four members of a family were injured when
debris from a downed drone hit their home, according to the regional
administration.
Russia launched 76 Shahed and decoy drones overnight at Ukraine, the
Ukrainian air force said.
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