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Moscow is pressing its offensive to retake the full territory of Russia\u2019s Kursk region from Ukraine<\/a> as negotiations between the White House and the Kremlin continue over a possible cease-fire in the three-year war.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had retaken two villages outside Sudzha, the main Russian town that Ukraine occupied since its surprise offensive into Russia last summer, but that it appears to have lost in recent days<\/a>. Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on Russia\u2019s newest claim and have not confirmed a retreat by its forces from Sudzha.<\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s apparent advances on the Kursk front came a day after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called on Ukrainian forces still fighting in the region to lay down their arms<\/a>. Mr. Putin said he would spare their lives if they surrendered.<\/p>\n The Russian leader has said that Ukrainian forces are encircled in the region, an assertion that President Trump repeated in a message on Truth Social. But Ukraine\u2019s military said on Friday that \u201cthere is no threat of encirclement of our units,\u201d calling the suggestion \u201cfalse and fabricated by the Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, reiterated Mr. Putin\u2019s demand in comments to the state news agency Tass on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still valid,\u201d Mr. Peskov said, although he added that \u201ctime was running out.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia and Ukraine have both been ramping up their attacks. Overnight, Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 178 drones at Ukrainian cities, the Ukrainian authorities said. The missiles struck a residential district in Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s hometown in central Ukraine, injuring 14 people, including two children, according to the local authorities.<\/p>\n The fighting has been fiercest of late in the Kursk region, where Russia hopes to eject Ukrainian forces from its territory, particularly given the possibility of a cease-fire. As the battlefield in Kursk shifted, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain was convening a virtual summit<\/a> on Saturday of global leaders committed to aiding Ukraine.<\/p>\n