Putin visits Kursk region for first time since booting Ukrainian forces from territory

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the western Kursk region on Tuesday the first time he stopped by since Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from the area last month During the visit Putin met with volunteer organizations in the region and went to the Kursk-II nuclear power plant according to the Kremlin State TV exhibited the Russian president accompanied by Kremlin first deputy chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko meeting helpers and local bureaucrats in the region including acting Gov Alexander Khinshtein US AWAITS CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL AFTER TRUMP PHONE CALL RUBIO SAYSRussia mentioned late last month that it had ejected Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region putting an end to the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War II On Aug Ukraine carried out its boldest attack pushing through the Russian frontier into the Kursk region supported by swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry Ukrainian forces have claimed as much as about square miles of Kursk PRESIDENT TRUMP CONFIDENT PUTIN WANTS PEACE WITH UKRAINE THINKS HE'S 'HAD ENOUGH' OF WARThis comes after Russian and Ukrainian executives met in Turkey last week for their first direct peace talks in years but the two sides failed to reach a ceasefire agreement The negotiations were the first face-to-face talks between the two countries since the early weeks of the war that began with a February invasion by Moscow Reuters contributed to this account