Russia will spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region if Kyiv orders them to surrender, President Vladimir Putin has said after US President Donald Trump urged him to avoid a “horrible massacre” there.

After clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in the past week.

Vladimir Putin has issued a chilling order to the Russian Army to "finally defeat the enemy" as peace talks with Ukraine have barely begun, with the Russian despot saying he will treat the captured tr