The enemy is blocked and surrounded in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk),  Putin said.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are not against allowing the media, including Ukrainian and foreign ones, into the enemy encirclement zone, Putin added.

Russia is concerned that Kiev might stage provocations while the media are in the area where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are encircled, Putin said. He noted that the Russian Armed Forces are ready to cease hostilities in the enemy encirclement zone for the time that media representatives are present there.