President Putin made a trip to the Kursk region in western Russia on Tuesday, marking his first visit since Russian forces drove out Ukrainian troops in the past month.

The Kremlin reported that Putin’s visit included meetings with local volunteer groups and a tour of the Kursk-II nuclear power plant.

Footage on state television showed Putin, along with Sergei Kiriyenko, the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff, meeting with volunteers and regional leaders, including acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein.

Russia announced late last month that it had repelled Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, ending what it described as the most significant incursion into Russian territory since World War II.

On August 6, Ukraine launched a significant attack, crossing the Russian border into the Kursk region with drone support and Western-supplied heavy weapons.

have claimed control of approximately 540 square miles of the Kursk region.

This visit follows recent peace talks in Turkey between Russian and Ukrainian officials, the first direct discussions in years, which failed to produce a ceasefire agreement.

These negotiations marked the first in-person discussions between the two nations since the initial weeks of the conflict that began in February 2022.

Reuters contributed to this report.

“`