Adhunik News

Late Wednesday, Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin, clad in military fatigues, visited a command post near the front lines in Kursk to encourage his troops following their successful expulsion of Ukrainian forces from significant areas in the bordering region.

This notable appearance by the Russian leader followed a meeting a day prior, where a U.S. delegation convened in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian officials who reached a consensus on a 30-day cease-fire in the ongoing conflict. American representatives intend to present this proposal to Mr. Putin, who has previously indicated a lack of interest in a short-term truce.

In images circulated by the Kremlin, Mr. Putin, dressed in a green camouflage uniform, was seen at a desk with maps laid out before him. He was accompanied by General Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief military officer of Russia.

In footage provided by Russian state media, Mr. Putin commended the Russian military units for reclaiming substantial territories that Ukraine had seized in the Kursk region. He urged the soldiers to secure the territory permanently against the Ukrainian forces, who had been occupying parts of the Russian border region since last summer. Ukraine had intended to leverage this area in negotiations for peace.

The Russian president also insisted that Ukrainian troops captured in the region should be treated and prosecuted as terrorists according to Russian law. General Gerasimov mentioned that over 400 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner during the recent operations.

“Individuals present in the Kursk region who commit crimes against the civilian populace and oppose our armed forces, law enforcement bodies, and special services will be classified as terrorists under Russian law,” declared Mr. Putin.

He mentioned that “foreign mercenaries” are not subject to the Geneva Convention, which covers the treatment of prisoners of war. The ongoing conflict, which erupted following Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has seen the participation of foreign fighters. Recently, Russia sentenced a 22-year-old British volunteer who fought for the Ukrainian military to 19 years in prison on counts of terrorism and mercenary activities after his capture in the Kursk region last year.

This week, Russian forces intensified their offensive to drive Ukrainian troops out of the area as Kyiv faced the ramifications of the Trump administration’s decision last week to suspend U.S. intelligence and military aid to Ukraine following a chaotic confrontation in the Oval Office between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Following discussions on Tuesday with Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia, the Trump administration announced it would reinstate the assistance.

By that time, Russian troops were already making significant progress in recapturing Sudzha, a key settlement in the Kursk region that had been under Ukrainian control for the past year.

For several months, Ukraine’s hold over Russian territory has been a contentious issue for Moscow, which has reinforced its military presence with North Korean soldiers in an effort to reclaim the land.

Russian officials announced a notable assault in Kursk last Saturday, reporting that around 800 fighters executed a surprise attack, advancing approximately 10 miles through an abandoned gas pipeline.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, stated in a statement that Ukrainian forces were repositioning to “more advantageous positions” as needed and would “maintain their positions in the Kursk region for as long as it is reasonable and necessary.” He emphasized, “In the most challenging circumstances, protecting the lives of Ukrainian soldiers remains my paramount concern.”

Mr. Putin remarked that any temporary cease-fire or truce would merely benefit Ukrainian forces, who are currently struggling on the battlefield and could use such a break to regroup.

Russia has requested a more comprehensive security deal supported by the West, including assurances that Ukraine will not join the NATO military alliance, along with other commitments that could undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“We do not seek a truce,” stated Mr. Putin during his annual news conference in December. “What we desire is peace: a long-lasting and stable peace with guarantees for the Russian Federation and its citizens.”

Marc Santora contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Chile’s government imposed a curfew on Tuesday and sent the army and national police officers to patrol the streets in response to a sweeping blackout that cut electricity to most of the country.

The massive outage, which began in the afternoon, affected eight million households in the South American nation of 19 million people, officials said. The affected area spanned 600 miles, from Arica in the north — home to many of the country’s copper mines — to Los Lagos in the south, they said. In Santiago, it knocked out traffic lights, stranded people in elevators and shut down the subway network.

By midnight, power had been restored for 90 percent of residential consumers, the National Electrical Coordinator said. Officials promised electricity would be restored to everyone by dawn.

The government had earlier announced a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the regions affected. Schools in those areas will be closed on Wednesday, with about 300,000 students affected, officials said.

“Today has been a difficult day for millions of countrymen,” Gabriel Boric, the president, said at a news conference on Tuesday night.

As officials scrambled to restore power, nonfunctioning stoplights caused traffic chaos in Santiago and masses of commuters were evacuated from the subway, spilling out onto the streets and vying for spots on replacement buses.

“People were sprinting everywhere trying to get to the buses,” said Patricio Rodriguez, 35. “Everyone was desperate to get home.”

Mr. Rodriguez said he had to walk nine miles to get to his aunt’s house. “People were driving the wrong way up the main roads, it was chaos,” he said. “It was like the Wild West — it felt lawless.”

Mr. Boric warned that the recovery was slow and unstable, and the situation remained precarious.

He blamed the country’s power companies for allowing the outage to occur and for not restoring power earlier, adding, “This is outrageous.” The outage was caused by failure of a transmission system, officials said.

Soldiers in trucks were deployed to affected areas to enforce the curfew, while the national police was sent to direct traffic and patrol streets, according to the authorities. In Santiago, helicopters circled the city.

The national police said on social media that they had rescued residents who were stuck in elevators and trapped in stores by automatic gates.

In some regions, residents were left without drinking water, officials said. Emergency services, hospitals, prisons and airports across the country were operating on backup electricity systems and generators, the national disaster agency said.

Chile has become one of the wealthiest nations in Latin America in recent decades, aided by massive copper reserves and a global commodities boom. But the benefits of the economic growth have not been felt equally, and inequality remains deeply entrenched.

That disparity drove a series of at times violent protests in 2019 that in turn helped fuel the rise of Mr. Boric, a former student organizer and lawyer. Elected president in 2021 on a left-wing platform, he called a convention to draft a new constitution to replace the one that had been in place since the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The new text, which would have enshrined left-wing policies in one of Latin America’s most conservative nations, was rejected by voters in 2022, as was a more conservative version the following year. Mr. Boric has since moderated some of his policies, while calling for better basic services for the majority of Chileans.