March 16, 2025 (EIRNS)—Neither Volodymyr Zelenskyy nor Ukrainian military authorities have yet ordered the Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk who are surrounded by Russian forces to surrender. Last week, President Donald Trump had publicly requested of President Vladimir Putin that he spare the lives of the Ukrainian troops. Putin responded that he was prepared to do so—even though the Ukrainian and foreign mercenary forces did not properly fall under Geneva Convention regulations—if the Ukrainians surrendered and turned over their weapons. Vladimir Putin, speaking to an operational meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council on March 14, elaborated: “In order to effectively implement the call of the U.S. President, an appropriate order is needed from the military and political leadership of Ukraine to its military units to lay down their weapons and surrender,” the Russian leader said.
Asked March 15 if Putin’s order still stands, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS: “It is still in force. Their time is shrinking like shagreen skin,” he pointed out, referring to Honoré de Balzac’s The Magic Skin (Le Peau de Chagrin).
