- Ukraine is on the verge of losing its final town in Kursk, the Russian region it invaded in August.
- Moscow has pushed hard into Kursk in recent weeks, and Putin just visited the region himself.
- Kyiv’s loss of its northern pocket comes as the US seeks to get Russia to accept a temporary cease-fire.
Eight months after launching its surprise attack on Russian soil, Ukraine’s foothold in Kursk appears to be on its last legs.
As of Wednesday, the town of Sudzha — about five miles from Ukraine’s border — remains Kyiv’s final significant position in the Russian region.
Ukrainian officials have been painting a bleak picture of its defense.
Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the defense committee in Ukraine’s parliament, told local reporters in a Wednesday briefing that Russian troops have entered the town and are trying to cut off Ukrainian supply lines.
“There is information that the Russians have entered a certain part. Fighting continues. The Russians control a certain area there, which is across the river,” Kostenko said.
Still, he added that he hadn’t received word of a full withdrawal, a decision that Kyiv has also not confirmed.
But the language used by Ukraine’s top officials indicates that at least a partial pullback is already underway.
Ukraine’s chief commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday evening that he had ordered Ukrainian troops to move to “more advantageous lines” if necessary.
Sudzha has been “almost completely destroyed” by Russian air strikes, Syrski added.
Both he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have said Kyiv’s priority in Kursk now is to “preserve the lives” of Ukrainian troops.
“The Russians are applying maximum pressure on our soldiers,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers have been posting footage of the fighting in Sudzha, appearing to show Moscow’s advance reaching the town’s administrative buildings.
Social Media via REUTERS
The Kremlin’s push comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Ukraine breached the region.
Dressed in military fatigues, he told his troops on Wednesday to clear out the remnants of Ukraine’s troops in Kursk, according to state media.
Kremlin Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images
With Ukraine’s position in Kursk now dire, it’s ousted Dmytro Krasylnykov, the commander of its northern operations.
National broadcaster Suspilne reported that Krasylnikov said an order for his replacement was signed on March 7. Oleksiy Shandar, who was deputy commander of Ukraine’s airborne assault forces, is set to take over.
An advantage held for months, now on the verge of collapse
Ukraine launched its surprise Kursk offensive in early August, widely interpreted as a bold effort to both draw Russian resources away from the hard-hit eastern front and to create a bargaining chip for cease-fire negotiations.
Within days, Kyiv’s forces seized some 500 square miles of Russian territory and threatened to encroach upon Kursk city itself.
But Moscow’s troops rushed to contain the advance, eventually cutting down Ukraine’s pocket there to just the land around Sudzha.
If the Kremlin fully retakes Kursk, it would come as President Donald Trump’s administration tries to get Russia to accept a temporary cease-fire, which Ukraine has already agreed to.
“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians, and we hope that they’ll say yes, that they’ll say yes to peace,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday. “The ball is now in their court.”
Earlier this month, tensions with Washington also prompted the US to roll back some of its intel and weapons support for Ukraine. Shortly after the decision was made, officials in Kyiv told Business Insider’s Jake Epstein that the loss of intel hampered Ukraine’s ability to defend against Russian missile attacks.
The Washington Post also reported that the move had prevented Ukraine from precisely targeting Russian positions with advanced American artillery systems.
After Kyiv accepted the cease-fire terms, the US said on Monday that it had resumed sharing intel with Ukraine.
