President Putin visited Kursk region after Zelensky’s forces driven out

President Vladimir Putin, speaking with volunteers in the Kursk region

President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk region for the first time after Russian Army drove out Zelensky’s forces from the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.
Ukrainian forces had made a surprise but most stupid incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of its “biggest battlefield successes” in the more than three-year war.

The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. However it proved to be a strategic blunder of monumental order for Strongman Zelensky.

Since the end of 2023, Russia had the advantage on the battlefield, and in the Kursk region after te initial set back, Russian were able to entangle a very large Ukrainian force. After containment the Russians began decimated this Ukrainian force systematically at their own pace.

Ukraine, the U.S. and South Korea were surprised when North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, and Russia said on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army.

Putin also visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and spoke at a closed meeting with selected volunteers. He also told acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced families that still couldn’t return to their homes.

Displaced residents had previously shown their disapproval over a lack of compensation in rare organized protests.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its air defenses shot down 159 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, including 53 over the Oryol region and 51 over the Bryansk region.