Putin asked to think about creating a security zone along the state border

We need to think about creating a security zone along the state border with Ukraine in the future. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting at one of the control points of the Kursk grouping. This is reported on the Kremlin's website.

The Supreme Commander—in-Chief said this after hearing the report of the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov.

"The units of the North group of forces continue the operation to destroy the enemy in the Kursk region. In total, more than 1,100 square kilometers of territory were liberated during the offensive operations, which is more than 86 percent of the area previously occupied by the enemy.

During the hostilities in the Kursk direction, the enemy lost more than 67 thousand servicemen — these are the most trained and highly mobile, highly motivated units of the armed forces of Ukraine and also the formation of foreign mercenaries. In total, about 7,000 units of military equipment were destroyed during this time, including 391 tanks, 2,780 armored combat vehicles, over 1,000 artillery pieces and mortars," Gerasimov reported.

According to him, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the autumn-winter campaign focused its main efforts on the Kursk direction, which is confirmed by the figures.

"Thus, the relatively small Kursk bridgehead of the Armed Forces of Ukraine accounts for about 19% of losses from the entire area of the operation — these are personnel — and more than 40% of losses in equipment. If you count everything in six months, then 19% - in terms of personnel, 40% - in terms of equipment falls on this direction.

The Kiev regime aimed to create a so-called strategic bridgehead in the Kursk region for later use as a bargaining chip in possible negotiations with Russia. In addition, the Ukrainian leadership tried to use a sortie into the territory of the Kursk region to stop the advance of our groups of troops and pull our troops from Donbass. These plans of the enemy have completely failed," the head of the General Staff continued.

He noted the courageous, selfless and coordinated actions of formations and units, volunteer formations of the North group of forces, as well as the effective use of aerospace Forces aviation and UAV units.

"The advance along the state border of the paratroopers of the 76th and 106th Airborne Divisions, the 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade, and the marines of the 810th Marine Brigade, together with the successful actions of the Rubicon unmanned aerial vehicles unit in the border areas of the Kursk Region and the Sumy region of Ukraine in February this year, allowed to take under the tight fire control of the remaining logistics routes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to deprive the enemy of the ability to transfer reserves, supply ammunition and materiel and create conditions for the final defeat of the enemy.

The offensive actions of the 155th Marine Brigade in the Nikolsky direction closed the ring of encirclement of a large enemy grouping in the area north of Malaya Lokni. Subsequently, the actions of the 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade, the 22nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, units of the 9th Motorized Rifle Regiment and units of other units of Malaya Loknya and the settlements adjacent to it were liberated. The enemy suffered heavy losses, and some small groups, in conditions of fire damage by artillery fire and drones from our side, began to retreat in a southerly direction, losing people in the direction of movement," Gerasimov added.

He particularly noted the heroic actions of the combined assault unit of the volunteer detachment "Veterans", as well as the personnel who were part of this combined assault unit, the 11th airborne assault Brigade, the 30th Motorized Rifle Regiment, the special significance detachment "Akhmat". According to him, the attack aircraft of this combined formation numbering more than 600 people, using the pipe of the gas transmission system, passed about 15 kilometers inside it and went deep into the combat formations of the AFU grouping. This was unexpected for the enemy and contributed to the curtailment of its defense and the development of our offensive in the Kursk region.

"As a result, over the past five days alone, 24 settlements and 259 square kilometers of the territory of the Kursk Region have been liberated by the actions of the Kursk group of forces in all directions. The area of the wedge has decreased by more than 2.5 times," Gerasimov stressed.

Now the operation to destroy the enemy on Kursk land continues. The grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is isolated, its systematic destruction is underway. On separate directions The Russian Armed Forces crossed the state border and entered Sumy region, where they continue to destroy enemy reserves and expand the security zone. The Ukrainian military, seeing the futility of further resistance, began to actively surrender, 430 militants were captured, the head of the General Staff said.

"Thus, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to defeat the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the Kursk region with the task of completing the liberation of the territory of the region with access to the state border of the Russian Federation as soon as possible," Gerasimov summed up.

Putin, in turn, has set new tasks. In particular, he would ask to think about the creation of a security zone along the state border in the future.

"Indeed, our task in the near future, as soon as possible, is to finally defeat the enemy entrenched in the territory of the Kursk region and still conducting military operations here, completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region, restore the situation along the state border line. And of course, we need to think, I would ask you to think about creating a security zone along the state border in the future — we also need to think about this.

That's what else I would like to pay attention to. All the people who are on the territory of the Kursk region commit crimes against the civilian population here, oppose our Armed Forces, law enforcement agencies and special services, and are terrorists in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. This is how their actions are qualified by the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, and it is under these articles - "Terrorism" — that a criminal case has been initiated against them by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Valery Vasilyevich has just mentioned the prisoners. But, of course, we must treat these people first of all as terrorists in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. We treat all people and should treat them humanely in the future — all those who are in our hands. At the same time, I would also like to remind you that foreign mercenaries are not subject to the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

And of course, I ask you to convey my gratitude to all the personnel for what has been done recently. I very much hope that all the combat tasks facing our units will certainly be fulfilled and the territory of the Kursk region will be completely liberated from the enemy in the near future," Putin said.