MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on beleaguered Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to “surrender” after US President Donald Trump pleaded for their lives.

Russia has mounted a rapid counteroffensive in the western border region over the past week, recapturing much territory that Ukraine had seized in a shock incursion last August. A defeat for Ukraine in Kursk would be a major blow to Kyiv´s plans to use its hold on the region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Moscow.

“We are sympathetic to President Trump´s call,” Putin said. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment,” Putin added in remarks broadcast a day after he held talks with a US envoy on a ceasefire. Trump said “thousands” of Ukrainian troops were “completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position”.

“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he said. Ukraine´s military leadership denied the claims, though President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded his forces faced mounting pressure. “There is no threat of our units being encircled,” Ukraine´s General Staff wrote in a social media statement.