Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s western Kursk region would be spared if Kyiv instructed them to surrender, following an appeal from former U.S. President Donald Trump to prevent a “horrible massacre.”

The claim was swiftly rejected by Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government dismissing Moscow’s assertion that its troops were encircled in Kursk as “false and fabricated.”

Trump, in a social media post, said he had urged Putin to spare the lives of “thousands of Ukrainians” whom he claimed were “completely surrounded” and vulnerable.

“I have strongly requested President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” Trump stated.

Addressing his Security Council, Putin acknowledged Trump’s appeal but accused Ukrainian forces of committing acts of “terrorism” against civilians—an allegation Kyiv denies. He said that Russian forces would grant safe passage to Ukrainian troops if they laid down their arms.

“In this regard, I would like to emphasize that if Ukrainian troops lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment in accordance with international law and the laws of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

However, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and deputy chairman of its Security Council, warned that if Ukrainian soldiers refused to surrender, they would be “methodically and mercilessly destroyed.”

Ukraine denies encirclement claims

Ukraine’s military dismissed Moscow’s assertions of encirclement, calling them an attempt at political manipulation.

“Reports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units by the enemy in the Kursk region are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement.

It added that Ukrainian forces had successfully regrouped and taken up new defensive positions in the region.

Zelenskiy, speaking to reporters, credited the Kursk operation with diverting Russian troops from other areas of the battlefield.

“I can only thank our warriors for the Kursk operation. I believe it fulfilled its task,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry claimed that its forces had recaptured Goncharovka, one of the few remaining Ukrainian-controlled settlements in Kursk.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s border guard service reported repelling an attempted incursion by a Russian reconnaissance unit in the Sumy region, which borders Kursk.

The Kursk region, which Ukraine briefly seized control of last August, has once again become a focal point of the conflict as Russian forces attempt to reclaim territory, while the U.S. presses for a ceasefire in the wider war.