MOSCOW, Oct. 17 -- Vladimir Putin took the border security zone off the bargaining table on Friday, in the same session in which his generals said the town of Dobropolye had fallen. Whatever else Kyiv is asked to discuss, the Russian president said, the zone his forces are establishing along the frontier is not on the agenda.

Speaking at an auxiliary command post of the Joint Force, Putin said the task set after Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk Region was not only to drive Ukrainian troops out but to establish that zone, and that the work is succeeding. "Our task is to ensure absolute security of Russia's border territories in the future and we are not going to make this a subject of any potential peace talks with Ukraine," TASS quoted...