Putin visits Kursk region for first time since Ukrainian forces ‘expelled’
The Russian President visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the Kursk region for the first time since Russia said it expelled Ukrainian forces from the area in April.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin had visited Kursk on the border with Ukraine on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in the largest cross-border raid by Kyiv’s forces in the then-nearly two-and-a-half-year war, before being pushed out by Russian troops nine months later.
Ukraine has not confirmed its expulsion from the area.
Mr Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and spoke at a closed meeting with selected volunteers.
He also told acting governor Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced families who still cannot return to their homes.
Disgruntled residents had previously shown their disapproval over a lack of compensation in rare organised protests.
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of its biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since the Second World War 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.
Ukraine, the US and South Korea said that North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, and Russia said on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army. Kyiv officials denied the claim.
Meanwhile, Russia’s ministry of defence said its air defences shot down 159 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, including 53 over the Oryol region and 51 over the Bryansk region.
