Russia says all Ukrainian troops have left Kursk region as Zelensky meets Trump

All Ukrainian troops have been forced from parts of Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow lost control of last year to a surprise Ukrainian incursion, Russia’s top general said in a Kremlin meeting.

Ukrainian officials denied the claim.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff for Russia’s armed forces, gave Russian President Vladimir Putin the news in a meeting on Saturday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news outlet Interfax.

In a statement, Mr Putin congratulated the Russian soldiers and commanders and said that Kyiv’s incursion had “completely failed”.

Ukrainian officials, however, said the fighting was still continuing.

“The statements of representatives of the high command of the aggressor country about the alleged end of hostilities in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation are not true,” Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday.

“The defensive operation of the Ukrainian Defence Forces in certain areas in the Kursk region continues. The operational situation is difficult, but our units continue to hold designated positions and carry out assigned tasks, while inflicting effective fire damage on the enemy with all types of weapons, including using active defence tactics,” it added.

The Ukrainian army stunned Russia in August 2024 by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles) of land.

The country’s leaders believed the capture of Russian territory might help in any future peace negotiations, but their gains were slowly eroded and Ukrainian troops continued to lose control of the territory throughout early 2025.

Gen Gerasimov also confirmed on Saturday that North Korean soldiers fought against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region.

He said they took part in “combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen during the repelling of the Ukrainian incursion” and “demonstrated high professionalism, showed fortitude, courage and heroism in battle”.

In the autumn, Ukraine, the US and South Korea all said that North Korea, which previously had supplied weapons to Moscow, had deployed 10,000-12,000 of its troops to Russia to fight in Kursk.

Moscow and Pyongyang until now had responded vaguely to the South Korean and Western claims of the troop deployment, emphasising that their military co-operation conforms with international law, without directly admitting the presence of the North Korean forces in Russia.

The news comes as US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Vatican City on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral to discuss a potential ceasefire deal.

The presidents met at St Peter’s Basilica for about 15 minutes, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said.

Mr Zelensky’s office initially said that the two leaders would continue negotiations later on Saturday, but Mr Nykyforov later told journalists that there would be no second meeting due to the presidents’ tight schedules.

White House communications director Steven Cheung also confirmed the meeting and said they “met privately today and had a very productive discussion”.

Three people were killed overnight by Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials also said.

Two people died in a strike on the town of Yarova in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, local governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on social media.

Another person died in the Dnipropetrovsk region, said governor Serhiy Lysak.

Six people were injured, including an 88-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl, he said.

Shortly after arriving in Rome on Friday, Mr Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high-level talks” on ending the three-year war sparked by Russia’s invasion.

His envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Friday, and Mr Trump said both sides were “very close to a deal”.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Friday night, Mr Zelensky said that “very significant meetings may take place” in coming days, and that an unconditional ceasefire was needed.

“Real pressure on Russia is needed so that they accept either the American proposal to cease fire and move towards peace, or our proposal – whichever one can truly work and ensure a reliable, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire, and then – a dignified peace and security guarantees,” he said.

“Diplomacy must succeed. And we are doing everything to make diplomacy truly meaningful and finally effective.”

Russia launched three missiles and 114 drones over Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force wrote in a statement on Saturday.

Sixty-six drones were destroyed and a further 31 decoy drones failed to reach their destination.

Meanwhile, Russian air defences shot down 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, the country’s Defence Ministry said.