Moving its troops

Lithuanian defense minister claims Russia is moving its troops from Kaliningrad to Kursk

From CNN's Maria Kostenko and Sugam Pokharel

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas claimed Tuesday that Russia was moving its troops from strategically significant territory of Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast to the southern Russian region of Kursk, where Kyiv says its forces continue to advance after a surprise cross-border incursion last week.

CNN cannot independently confirm the claim and is reaching out to Moscow for comment.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

“We are now seeing them redeploying their troops from Kaliningrad to Kursk. We call it the demilitarization of Kaliningrad,” Kasciunas said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a video of the meeting posted on his Telegram account. It’s not clear if Kasciunas provided any evidence to back his claim during the meeting.

The Lithuanian minister called Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk “a good move and a completely new page.”

Ukrainian Ground Forces spokesperson Dmytro Lykhovii told Ukrainian media Tuesday that “some Russian military units” were moved to Kursk from occupied southern Ukraine. Lykhovii caveated, however, that Russia had already amassed “a large number of personnel” in the southern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region.