SOCHI, November 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that about 15,000 Ukrainian troops had been blocked by the Russian military in two areas of the Kupyansk direction.

"I don’t know whether our military has already announced it or not, but there are two areas in the Kupyansk direction where Kiev troops are blocked. One area is practically in an encirclement. About 10,000 Ukrainian troops are blocked on the bank of a water reservoir. In another area near Kupyansk, about 5,000 troops are blocked," Putin told Thursday’s plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"They are already in encirclement and are trying to create pontoon crossings to evacuate at least some of the troops, but they are destroyed by our artillery almost immediately," he added.

"There are also two or three zones where [Kiev troops] are blocked in battlegroup Center’s zone of responsibility," he said. "There certainly are two at this point, and possibly, the third one will emerge soon."

"The Ukrainian military is certainly aware of these developments, but decisions that are being made on the political level are not intended to benefit the Ukrainian state, let alone the people of Ukraine," the Russian leader said.