Putin’s visit has been the first to the region since Russia said that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops at the end of April.
President Vladimir Putin visited the Kursk border region for the first time since Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from the region last month, Kremlin said.
The Ukrainian forces made a foray into the Kursk region in August 2024 in one of their most daring successes on the battlefield during the war of more than three years. The first time that Russian territory was occupied by an invader since the Second World War.
Since the end of 2023, Russia has mainly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.
At the height of the foray, the Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometers (540 square miles) of Kursk.
Russia said in late April that it had ejected Ukrainian troops from the region.
During Tuesday’s “working visit”, Putin met with volunteer organizations in Kursk and inspected a nuclear power plant in the region, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday.
Russian state television has shown that Putin meets volunteers and local officials from the region, including acting governor Alexander Khinshtein.
Putin was accompanied by Sergei Kiriyenko, the first assistant chief of staff of the Kremlin.
In Ukraine, at least six soldiers were killed and 10 others injured in a missile attack on Tuesday, the Ukrainian National Guard said on Wednesday.
“An internal investigation into the incident is underway. The commander of the military unit has been suspended, and the necessary information was transmitted to the law enforcement organizations,” the National Guard of Ukraine said in a statement.
The Sumy border region of Ukraine has undergone an intensification of the attacks in recent months. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday evening that it had launched a ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian site.
“During recognition activities … a training camp” for Ukrainian special forces was “detected,” he said in an article on social networks.
“Based on the coordinates received, an ISKANDER missile strike was launched.”
Russia has also published images showing what it said is a training camp in a wooded area.
Aerial images have shown a strike, triggering a big fire and sending a plume of thick black smoke that swings in the air.
Meanwhile, Russia said it had intercepted 159 drones launched by Ukraine over 12 hours to target several Russian regions, including Moscow, the army announced on Wednesday in a statement.
The drones mainly targeted the Russian regions limiting Ukraine and were launched on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, a statement from the Ministry of Defense said.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian army said that it had struck a factory of semiconductor devices during a drone attack against the Oryol region in Russia.
The factory provides various companies, some of which are involved in the production of Iskander and Kinzhal missiles, said the army on Telegram, adding that 10 drones had reached the target area and that a fire had broken out.
The dam occurred two days after a phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump failed to win a breakthrough towards a cease-fire in the three-year conflict.
European diplomats put pressure on Moscow to accept a truce.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of Caller in order to continue his offensive.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he expected Russia to present a Ukrainian ceasefire plan in the days that will show if it was serious.
