Putin Visits Kursk Region for First Time Since Ejecting Ukrainian Forces 

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Talent and Success Foundation as he visits the Sirius educational center near Sochi in the Krasnodar region, Russia, May 19, 2025. (Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Talent and Success Foundation as he visits the Sirius educational center near Sochi in the Krasnodar region, Russia, May 19, 2025. (Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via Reuters)
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Putin Visits Kursk Region for First Time Since Ejecting Ukrainian Forces 

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Talent and Success Foundation as he visits the Sirius educational center near Sochi in the Krasnodar region, Russia, May 19, 2025. (Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Talent and Success Foundation as he visits the Sirius educational center near Sochi in the Krasnodar region, Russia, May 19, 2025. (Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the western Kursk region for the first time since Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from the area last month.

The Kremlin said that during the visit on Tuesday Putin met volunteer organizations in the region and visited the Kursk-II nuclear power plant.

State television showed Putin meeting volunteers and local officials in the region including acting governor Alexander Khinshtein. Putin was accompanied by Sergei Kiriyenko, Kremlin first deputy chief of staff.

Russia said in late April that it had ejected Ukrainian troops from Kursk region, ending the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two.

Just over two years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched its boldest attack, smashing through the Russian border into the Kursk region, supported by swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry.

At its height, Ukrainian forces claimed nearly 1,400 square kilometers of Kursk.



Tsunami Warning after 2 Large Quakes off Russia's Pacific Coast

A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
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Tsunami Warning after 2 Large Quakes off Russia's Pacific Coast

A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a warning for Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula after two quakes — the larger with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea nearby on Sunday.

The larger quake was at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles) and was 144 kilometers (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000, according to the US Geological Survey.

A few minutes earlier, a quake with a magnitude of 6.7 was recorded nearby, reported The Associated Press.

The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) indicated twin earthquakes of over 6.5 magnitude struck near the coast of Kamchatka, in Russia's far east, early on Sunday. It measured the quakes at 6.6 and 6.7 and the depth of both at 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Measurements of earthquakes often vary in the first hours after they occur.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.