Putin visits Kursk for the first time since Russia led Ukrainian forces

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia visited the Kursk region in the west of the country for the first time since the Moscow troops led the Ukrainian forces of most of the territory they had seized in a surprise cross -border offensive.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Putin had gone to the Kursk nuclear power plant one day earlier, had led a meeting with local government officials and met with volunteers helping residents affected by the conflict. The images and videos of the trip published by the Kremlin apparently aimed to project a return to normality, even if the fights were still raging in a corner of the region.

The visit occurred a few days after Russian and Ukrainian officials met for the first direct peace talks in more than three years.

Mr. Putin had previously indicated that he would not negotiate with Ukraine until his forces went to Kursk, while kyiv had hoped to use his control on Russian land as a lever effect in all talks to end the war. The visit could point out that Mr. Putin, the Russian chief, believes that an obstacle to negotiations has been abolished, even though Ukraine continues to set up small -scale attacks on the Russian side of the border.

The Ukrainian forces launched a foray into Kursk in August and quickly seized some 500 square miles of Russian territory. But the push slowed down after a few weeks and the Ukrainian troops began to lose ground while the Russian forces deployed in greater numbers. With the help of North Korean soldiers, the Russian forces managed to hide in the territory occupied by Ukrainian before launching a decisive counterattack in March which recovered most of the Kursk.

The Ukrainian army still has a Russian territory ribbon along the Kursk border, according to Deepstate, a group of analysts that map the battlefield. He also continued to investigate Russian defenses in other border areas.