Ukraine war latest: Kyiv confirms withdrawal from Kursk town

The Turkish president has backed Donald Trump’s steps to end the war in Ukraine after the pair spoke on the phone.

A statement released by Tayyip Erdogan’s office on Sunday said that the Turkish leader “supports President Trump’s decisive and direct initiatives to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.”

The statement also says he “emphasised that Turkey has been striving for a just and lasting peace since the beginning of the war and will continue to do so.”

Sir Keir Starmer held a virtual meeting with 29 other world leaders to discuss peace in Ukraine.

The countries in the “coalition of the willing”, which include Britain, France, Australia and Canada, will discuss how to help Kyiv deter future Russian aggression in the event of any peace deal.

The leaders discussed how countries plan to contribute to the coalition of the willing, ahead of a military planning session next week.

Ukraine has confirmed its troops have withdrawn from the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region.

In recent days, Moscow recaptured the town which was originally taken by Kyiv during their military operation in the Kursk region last last year.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s general staff posted a map of the region, depicting a full withdrawal of its forces from the town.

Kyiv has denied reports that is has retreated from the Kursk region entirely.

Emmanuel Macron has said Ukraine will have the power to decide whether Western troops are deployed as a peacekeeping force.

The French president said Russia will not have a say in whether the plan goes ahead, as plans for troop deployment become more concrete.

“Ukraine is sovereign. If it asks for allied forces to be on its territory, it’s not something for Russia to accept or not,” he told French media.

Ukrainian forces are rapidly losing ground in the Kursk region amid a major Russian offensive to recapture land which Kyiv hoped could be a crucial bargaining chip in peace negotiations.

In an attempt to divert Russian forces from the brutal frontlines in eastern Ukraine – and embarrass Vladimir Putin – Ukraine smashed across the border into the Kursk region in August, the biggest attack on Russian territory since the Nazi invasion of 1941.

Putin visited the western region for the first time since its seizure on Wednesday, in a sign of the confidence Moscow has that they will retake complete control of the region.

Below my colleague Alex Croft details what is happening in Kursk:

Kyiv’s forces have not been completely pushed out of the Kursk region, The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said.

Analysis by the US think tank says Russian forces continued offensive operations in the area, but have not recaptured it entirely.

It comes after Moscow’s troops recaptured the town of Sudzha and some surrounding villages – which were taken by Ukraine in August last year.

On Saturday, Zelensky denied reports that Ukraine had completely withdrawn from the region.