Moscow, May 21 (EFE).- Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Moscow last month claimed it had retaken the region from Ukrainian troops, local television reported today.
Ukranian troops launched a surprise incursion into the region last August, seizing territory in the first ground invasion of Russia since World War II.
According to the state media report, the president’s visit took place Tuesday afternoon, during which Putin met with the region’s acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, as well as with volunteers from other Russian regions working in Kursk.
The Kremlin leader also visited the Kursk-2 nuclear power plant under construction.
During his meetings, Putin asserted that despite their expulsion, the Ukrainian armed forces continue their attempts to get into Russia.
“Every day the enemy tries to cross the state border of the Russian Federation,” he said, according to state media TASS.
Khinstein proposed to Putin that he open a museum dedicated to the “events that occurred in the Kursk region between 2024 and 2025,” a proposal that was accepted by the Russian leader.
The initiative provides for the construction of a museum in the city of Kursk, with a branch in the town of Sudzha, the epicenter of the Ukrainian military incursion.
Putin’s previous visit to Kursk took place in March, when Russia had regained control of more than 80 percent of the territory, and he ordered his troops to completely liberate the region of enemy troops.
At the end of April, Russian authorities officially proclaimed the resumption of control over the region, although they later acknowledged that isolated groups of Ukrainian troops still remained in the forested areas. EFE
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