Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russian forces have been instructed to create a “buffer zone” along the Ukraine-Russia border as fighting continues to rage despite President Trump’s push for a peace deal.
“I have already said that a decision was made to create the necessary security buffer zone along the border. Our armed forces are currently solving this problem. Enemy firing points are being actively suppressed, the work is underway,” Putin said in a meeting with members of his government.
Putin previously floated the idea of creating a buffer zone in March during a visit to Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which was invaded by Ukrainian forces last year. Russian forces have pushed out the invading Ukrainian troops, but Kursk and other border regions frequently come under Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks.
Kursk Governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Thursday that 12 civilians were injured by a Ukrainian strike on the town of Lgov and that two teenagers were among the wounded.
Ukraine has also been carrying out heavy drone attacks on Russian territory. The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces downed 485 drones over the previous 48 hours, mainly over the regions of Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk.
It’s not clear where exactly Putin wants to establish the buffer zone, but a Russian lawmaker called for security corridors to be established in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions, suggesting Ukraine stands to lose more territory as the war drags on.
Russia and Ukraine recently held direct talks for the first time in three years, but it didn’t appear that progress was made toward a ceasefire. The two sides did agree to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war from either side, and the swap is expected to happen on Friday.
President Trump spoke with Putin on Monday and said afterward that talks on a ceasefire would begin “immediately,” but they haven’t started yet. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the next round of negotiations will be held at the Vatican and are expected to start in mid-June, but the Kremlin said no formal agreement has been reached.
