CIA provides White House with intelligence refuting "encirclement of thousands of Ukrainians" in Russia's Kursk Oblast – Reuters

Ukrainian soldiers in Russia's Kursk Oblast have lost some territory in recent days, but they are not surrounded by Russian troops, despite recent statements from US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Source: Reuters, citing three US and European officials familiar with their countries' intelligence assessments

Details: US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have shared this assessment with the White House over the past week, a US official and another person familiar with the matter said. However, Trump continues to claim that Ukrainian troops are surrounded in Kursk Oblast in Russia’s west.

US and European intelligence assessments show Ukrainian troops are facing intense pressure from Russian forces, but they are not completely surrounded, the officials said.

Background:

• In a post on his social media account on 14 March, Trump said he had asked Putin to save the lives of thousands of Ukrainians, who he said were "completely surrounded" and vulnerable. The Kremlin leader replied that he would do so if they surrendered.
• Trump repeated the statement about the "encirclement" of Ukrainian forces during a speech at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday and in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
• The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, said on 14 March that it had "found no geolocation evidence that Russian forces have surrounded significant numbers of Ukrainian troops in Kursk Oblast or elsewhere along the front line in Ukraine".

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