Putin says Ukrainians face choice of 'surrender or die' as Russia tightens squeeze in Kursk

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had trapped the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region, where they have clung on for more than seven months in one of the key battles of the war.

A day after instructing his top commanders to complete the ejection of Ukrainian forces as fast as possible, Putin told a news conference that the situation in Kursk was "completely under our control, and the group that invaded our territory is in isolation".

Ukraine's top commander denied this week that his men were being encircled, but said they were adopting better defensive positions. Its general staff said on Thursday that five Russian attacks had been repelled and clashes were continuing in four locations.

A Russian war correspondent reported heavy Ukrainian artillery fire on the town of Sudzha, which Russia recaptured on Wednesday. Maps published by Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian source that charts the frontlines of the war, showed a dramatic shrinking of Ukrainian-held territory in the past week but little change in the past 24 hours.

Putin said Ukrainian soldiers were cut off inside the invasion zone. "And 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."

Ukraine's surprise incursion into Kursk last August aimed to embarrass Putin, divert Russian forces from elsewhere on the front lines and grab land to trade for its own captured territory. Its troops were the first to invade Russia since Adolf Hitler's army in 1941.

But Russia's forces, supported by troops from its ally North Korea, have gradually clawed back the lost ground, intensifying pressure on Ukraine in the past week by cutting supply lines.

Putin's growing confidence was reflected in a surprise visit on Wednesday to commanders in Kursk, when he told them to finish the job "in the shortest possible timeframe".

Putin, who rarely dons military uniform, was shown on TV in camouflage fatigues - a pointed signal to the West of Russia's military resolve as it weighs up a 30-day ceasefire plan proposed by the United States and supported this week by Ukraine.

CEASEFIRE 'NUANCES'

At his news conference, Putin said Russia supported the idea of a ceasefire, but with the caveat that it should lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of the conflict.

He said there were a number of "nuances", including in Kursk, where a truce would be "very good" for the Ukrainian side.

"If we stop hostilities for 30 days, what does that mean? That everyone who is there will leave without a fight? Should we let them out of there after they have committed a lot of crimes against civilians? Or will the Ukrainian leadership give us the order to lay down our arms? It is not clear."

Ukraine denies committing such crimes, says it abides by humanitarian law and does not target civilians.

The Russian Defence Ministry said earlier that its forces were pounding remaining Ukrainian positions after capturing three more settlements including Sudzha, which is located near the border with Ukraine and lies on a road that Kyiv had used to resupply its forces.

Video from Sudzha, published by Russian media and military bloggers, showed scenes of devastation from the seven months of fighting, with burnt-out vehicles, roofless buildings and mountains of rubble.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Mark Trevelyan, Lucy Papachristou and Darya Korsunskaya in London; additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Editing by Andrew Heavens)