Putin issues triumphant message hours after key meeting between Trump and Zelensky on war

has said Ukrainian forces have been forced out of Russia's Kursk region, claiming they had all been expelled from the last village they were holding. Kyiv has denied the claim. Moscow lost full control of the Kursk region last year in a surprise Ukrainian incursion.

The Russian President on Saturday (April 26) congratulated his troops and commanders, claiming Kyiv's incursion had "completely failed". He boasted: "The complete defeat of our enemy along Kursk's border region creates the right conditions for further successes for our troops and in other important areas of the front."

Ukrainian officials said the fighting was still continuing. 's General staff said: "The statements of representatives of the high command of the aggressor country about the alleged end of hostilities in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation are not true."

It added: "The defensive operation of the Ukrainian Defence Forces in certain areas in the Kursk region continues. The operational situation is difficult, but our units continue to hold designated positions and carry out assigned tasks, while inflicting effective fire damage on the enemy with all types of weapons, including using active defence tactics."

The Ukrainian army stunned in August last year by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 500 square miles of land. believed the capture of Russian territory might help in any future peace negotiations, but the country's gains were slowly eroded and Ukrainian troops continued to lose control of the territory throughout early 2025.

The Kremlin's claim of victory in Kursk came as US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in the Vatican City on the sidelines of the Pope Francis's funeral to discuss a potential ceasefire deal.

Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky met at St Peter's Basilica for about 15 minutes, according to Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nykyforov. The Ukrainian president's office initially said the two leaders would continue negotiations later on Saturday, but Mr Nykyforov later told reporters there would be no second meeting due to the presidents' tight schedules.

During the meeting, both sides discussed key issues on the path to peace, according to a source. The conversation was described as very constructive, with both sides ready to move quickly.

Soon after arriving in Rome on Friday, Mr Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for "very high-level talks" to end the war, which was sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Mr Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin earlier on Friday and Mr Trump said both sides were "very close to a deal".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that Putin had told Mr Witkoff Russia was ready to negotiate with Kyiv without any preconditions. Mr Trump, however, later said he doubted Putin's willingness to end the war.

Peskov told Russian state news outlet Interfax that Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff for Russia's Armed Forces, told Putin about the news in Kursk at a meeting today.

Ukraine, the US and South Korea all said in the autumn that North Korea had deployed 10,000-12,000 of its troops to Russia to fight in Kursk.

Moscow and Pyongyang until now had responded vaguely to the South Korean and Western claims of the troop deployment. Russia and North Korea had insisted their military cooperation conformed with international law, without directly admitting the presence of North Korean forces in Russia.

Meanwhile, three people were killed overnight by Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials said on Saturday. Two people died in a strike on the town of Yarova in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, local Governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on social media.

Another person died in the Dnipropetrovsk region, acording to its Governor Serhiy Lysak. He said six people were injured, including an 88-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl.

Russia launched three missiles and 114 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said in a statement. Sixty-six drones were destroyed and a further 31 decoy drones failed to reach their destination, according to the same source.

Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 45 Ukrainian drones overnight.