Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed claims that his troops are surrounded by Russian forces in the Russian region of Kursk on Saturday. "There is no encirclement of our troops," Zelensky wrote on X,

President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin both claimed that Ukrainian forces were surrounded. Ukraine’s top military commander vowed to “hold the line.”

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered up to 200,000 soldiers into Ukraine, his aim was to sweep into the capital, Kyiv, in a matter of days. He wanted to overthrow the pro-Western government and return Ukraine to Russia's sphere of influence.