Trump again claims Ukrainian troops are surrounded, plans to discuss with Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump again claimed that Ukrainian troops are allegedly surrounded and announced he would discuss the matter with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18, Fox News reported.

"Tomorrow, I'm speaking with President Putin of Russia to save some soldiers who are in deep trouble. They're captured, essentially. They are surrounded by Russian soldiers... If it wasn't for me, they [Ukrainian troops] wouldn't be here any longer. I was able to get them [the Russians] not to do anything at this moment," Trump said.

He did not specify where this supposed encirclement took place. Earlier, on March 14, Trump claimed that at that very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops were "completely surrounded by Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position."

The U.S. president said he had asked Putin to spare their lives. In response to Trump's statement, Putin demanded that Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region surrender.

However, there is no real evidence of such an encirclement. According to Ukraine's General Staff, Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region maintain access to the Russian-Ukrainian border. The same assessment has been reported by the Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState.