VOLODYMYR Zelensky insisted Ukraine was still fighting in Kursk after Vladimir Putin claimed it was “liberated” by Russia.

Tyrant Putin had praised his generals for re-taking the Russian territory seized in a counter-attack last summer.

But Ukraine’s President Zelensky insisted his troops had not yet relinquished all of the land — thought to be a key bargaining chip in peace talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed again yesterday it was fully under Russian control.

On Saturday, he had said it was “fully liberated”.

Yesterday, he also revealed Putin had “congratulated generals on the victory and thanked them for their heroic work”.

But Russian state media admitted “scattered groups and individual soldiers” of the Ukrainian army were still fighting.

And Mr Zelensky declared: “Our military continues to actively defend the designated areas of the Kursk regions.”

Elsewhere, Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin was ready to reach a deal brokered by US President Donald Trump if “specific elements” could be “fine-tuned”.

US national security chief Mike Waltz added the President would use “both carrots and sticks” to make Putin strike a deal.

Mr Trump turned against Russia — accusing Putin of “tapping me along” — after a meeting with Mr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.

UK Cabinet minister Pat McFadden told Sky News: “Certainly the tone that was adopted, in terms of recognising the consequences of Russian aggression, was right, was welcome.”