Putin says Russia will spare Ukrainian forces in Kursk if they surrender

The biggest risk factor is that chaos or panic will break out — a scenario that affected Russian troops near Kharkiv in 2022,

Reisner said

Nico Langegerman journalist

From the Ukrainian perspective, it's clear: As long as there is fighting in the Kursk region, those forces are not engaged in fighting in Ukraine. As long as the Russians are deploying their air force to drop glide bombs on their own villages, those bombs are not falling on Ukrainian towns,

Lange said

From a perspective of military strategy, it was a catastrophic choice,

Miron said

Military objectives are now taking precedence, and these have largely been achieved: minimizing the risk for Ukraine's Sumy region, diverting a certain number of Russian troops from other fronts, and inflicting maximum damage on them,

the defense expert explained

Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident

If there is a strong response from the United States, they will not let them play around. And if there are steps that Russia is not afraid of, they will delay the process,

Zelenskyy said

There are certainly reasons to be cautiously optimistic, ... [Putin] said that he supports President Trump’s position in terms of a settlement, but he voiced some questions that need to be answered together”

Peskov said

But there are some Russian worries about it. First of all, they are winning that battle in Kursk and they might want to finish that off before the ceasefire takes effect. Secondly, a ceasefire doesn’t mean everybody stops shooting … You should have some sort of system … that is policed,

he told Al Jazeera

Vladimir Putinpresident

In this regard, I would like to emphasise that if [the Ukrainian troops] lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment in accordance with international law and the laws of the Russian Federation,

Putin said

I think there is a real chance actually … that one can be optimistic that we will get the ceasefire … in the next few weeks and there is again going to be a negotiation about long-term peace,

he added

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

So in those terms, there are delays and negotiations to get the ceasefire in place,

he said