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Ukrainian army ordered to hold Kursk until Trump takes office

Kiev wants to enter negotiations with Vladimir Putin from a strong position

Dec 3, 2024 11:04 222

Ukraine's armed forces have been ordered to hold part of Russia's Kursk region until US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. handed NEXTA.

Units of the Ukrainian armed forces that have taken control of part of the Kursk region have been instructed to hold the occupied territory until the end of January, when Donald Trump takes office in the United States, several Ukrainian soldiers told BBC News.

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"Our primary task is to hold as much territory as possible until Trump takes office and negotiations begin. It can then be exchanged for something. Nobody knows what," said one Ukrainian soldier.

In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin was aiming to push the Ukrainian army out of the Kursk region before Trump's inauguration. To help Ukraine contain a Russian counteroffensive near Kursk, the US, Britain and France have authorized Kiev to use long-range weapons against targets on Russian soil.

It is believed that the occupied Kursk region can be a bargaining chip in the hands of Ukraine. The Russian army has occupied a much larger part of the territory of Ukraine (nearly a fifth), but for Putin it is a real humiliation for a foreign army to control even a small part of the territory of the Russian Federation.