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Russia's military says it has regained full control of the country's western Kursk region - a claim denied by Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have been in retreat in Kursk in recent months, facing 70,000 Russian troops and heavy drone attacks as part of Russia's drive to regain the territory. In its latest report on 25 April, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think-tank said: "Russian forces recently advanced near the international border in Kursk Oblast [region] as part of efforts to push Ukrainian forces from their limited remaining positions in the area." The ISW also reported that "fighting...

Nearly nine months after losing chunks of the Kursk region to a surprise Ukrainian incursion, Russia announced that its troops have fully reclaimed the border territory. Ukraine denied it, saying the fighting was still ongoing. If confirmed, Moscow’s victory in Kursk would deprive Kyiv of key leverage in U.S.-brokered efforts to negotiate an end to the more than 3-year-old war by exchanging its gains for some of Russia-occupied land in Ukraine. Here are key moments of the battle for Kursk and its impact:A Ukrainian blitzUkrainian forces pushed into Kursk on Aug. 6, 2024, in a surprise attack, with battle-hardened mechanized...

Donald Trump has broken his silence after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis' funeral - and turned on Vladimir Putin. In a rant on his social media platform Truth Social he accused the Russian President of stringing him along and at the same time blamed Democrat Presidents Obama and Biden for a "mess". He wrote: "I’m just trying to clean up the mess that was left to me by Obama and Biden, and what a mess it is. With all of that being said, there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities...

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed on Saturday what he called the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces into Russia's Kursk region after they were expelled from the last village Moscow said they had been holding. -snip- Gerasimov also praised the North Korean officers and soldiers' contribution in Kursk, saying they had shown "high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism", fulfilling combat tasks "shoulder to shoulder" with Russian servicemen. North Korea sent an estimated total of 14,000 troops, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace its losses, Ukrainian officials said. Lacking armoured vehicles and drone warfare experience, they took heavy casualties but...

The former governor of Russia's Kursk region, parts of which were seized by Ukrainian forces in August 2024, has been detained and charged with embezzling money earmarked for building defences, Russia's interior ministry said on Thursday. Alexei Smirnov was head of the western region when Ukrainian troops smashed across the border in a large-scale incursion. -snip- In the first hours of Ukraine's August incursion into Kursk, Smirnov repeatedly offered assurances that the situation was under control, even as Russian border guards were left reeling and in retreat by the surprise attack.

Roughly a month after taking Sudja, Russian Forces drive Ukrainian defenders out of Guevo. Now only Olezhnia and Gornal stand in the way of a complete expulsion of Kiev forces from Kursk region. There’s no denying that the Ukrainian operation in Russia’s Kursk region was a successful adventure from the standpoint of a PR stunt.There’s also unanimous agreement that the Kiev regime burned a disproportionate amount of resources to hold the sliver of terrain for 9 months – be it tanks and armored cars, be it artillery and air defense units, be it tens of thousands of troops, maybe as...

VLADIMIR Putin's soldiers have reportedly been left with never-before-seen lung poisoning after crawling through a 10-mile gas pipeline to attack Ukraine. Russian troops were sent on the bizarre mission earlier this month through a disused pipe near Sudzha, in Russia’s Kursk region – with the goal of sneaking behind enemy lines. But not only were many of the soldiers slaughtered by Ukrainian forces, survivors are now said to be suffering from chemical pneumonitis - an acute lung inflammation caused by inhaling toxic substances. Doctors have revealed the condition appears to have worsened over time - with scans showing lungs "resembling...

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia's Kursk region have described scenes "like a horror movie" as they retreated from the front lines. The BBC has received extensive accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a "catastrophic" withdrawal in the face of heavy fire, and columns of military equipment destroyed and constant attacks from swarms of Russian drones. The soldiers, who spoke over social media, were given aliases to protect their identity. Some gave accounts of a "collapse" as Ukraine lost Sudzha, the largest town it held. Ukrainian restrictions on travel to the front have meant it is not possible to get a...

“About 30 NATO officers were trapped in the Kursk region, according to the coordinator of the pro-Russian resistance, citing sources in the underground. Now it becomes clear why Europe was so alarmed. During the fighting in the Kursk region, according to the pro-Russian Mykolaiv resistance, about 30 career officers from NATO countries were surrounded.”

Terrible though it is, Ukraine’s forced withdrawal from Kursk makes peace negotiations with Russia more likely. Indeed had Putin not been able to drive the Ukrainian army out, he is unlikely to have even contemplated peace talks. He would have demanded that Kyiv pull out of his territory first. That would have been a huge political challenge for Zelensky, on top of all the others he faces: the idea of voluntarily withdrawing from conquered Russian land while at the same time ceding large areas of his own country to the enemy. Putin has the whip hand, and one of the...

Ukraine’s military was forced to dismiss Donald Trump’s claim that thousands of its troops are encircled in Russia’s Kursk region as “false”.Its general staff instead accused Russia of fabricating reports for “political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners”, while Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin was lying about the battlefield situation.Putin claimed on Thursday night that his forces had encircled thousands of Ukrainians in the western Kursk region, which Ukraine invaded in August, warning they would have to “surrender or die”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called his military’s operation in Kursk Oblast a success, as the last remnants of Kyiv’s forces leave the Russian territory they have occupied since August. Ukraine shocked the world with its bold offensive operation in the summer that at its height took control of an area about the size of Los Angeles in Kursk, Russia. The idea was to distract Russian forces from advancing on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in southeastern Ukraine, a goal Zelensky said was achieved. “I believe the mission is accomplished,” he said.

After a daring maneuver, the Russian military have completely surrounded Ukraine forces in the Kursk region. The Ukraine soldiers seemingly have been instructed to continue trying to fight on behalf of Zelenskyy. President Trump is asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of the Ukraine troops.

Russia will spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region if Kyiv orders them to surrender, President Vladimir Putin has said after US President Donald Trump urged him to avoid a “horrible massacre” there. Ukraine denied its forces in Kursk were encircled, describing the claim as a Russian fabrication, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday described the situation for Ukrainian forces there as “very difficult”. Trump wrote on social media that he had asked the Russian president to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainians who he said were “completely surrounded” and vulnerable. “I have strongly requested...

Russia has taken back the biggest town in Kursk from Ukrainian soldiers, with President Vladimir Putin warning that Kyiv’s remaining force in the region is now trapped and must “surrender or die.” He also warned that any Ukrainian forces captured in the Russian territory would be treated as “terrorists” — not as prisoners of war — adding that “foreign mercenaries” aren’t subject to the laws of the Geneva Convention. Moscow took the town of Sudzha on Thursday and all but erased the massive gains Ukraine made during its surprise incursion last summer, whittling away at Kyiv’s largest bargaining chip in...

Vladimir Putin has vowed to retake Ukrainian-controlled territory in Kursk region, Russia. Symbolically wearing army fatigues for the first time since Ukraine's surprise offensive of the Russian mainland in August, the Russian President visited a control centre used by Russian troops

On Feb. 25, a flurry of accurate Russian drone strikes knocked out dozens of Ukrainian vehicles along the main road to Sudzha, the town that is—or was—the main base for the 10,000-strong Ukrainian force occupying a significant, but quickly shrinking, salient in Kursk Oblast in western Russia. That was “the day you started worrying about Kursk,” wrote independent analyst Andrew Perpetua. Two weeks later, it seems the bulk of the Ukrainian force—Ukrainian army’s heaviest brigades—has evacuated Kursk and repositioned on the Ukrainian side of the border. “My friends managed to leave Kursk, avoiding encirclement,” one Ukrainian source claimed Monday. “It’s...

Key developments on March 12: ・Ukraine says it's ready to fight in Kursk Oblast 'as long as necessary,' as Russia claims to retake over 86% of seized territories ・Ukraine doesn't trust Russia but wants to show readiness for peace, Zelensky says on ceasefire deal ・Ukraine-US talks in Jeddah concerned potential territorial concessions, Rubio confirms ・Russia has stepped up attacks in Ukraine's south over past two weeks, military says Russian troops have regained control of more than 86% of the territory in Kursk Oblast captured by Kyiv, Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian army, said on...

(Reuters) - Ukrainian troops appeared on the point of losing their hard-won foothold inside Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday as Moscow claimed further advances there and military bloggers on both sides said Kyiv's forces were withdrawing.Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of land inside Russia, boosting citizens' morale and gaining a potential bargaining chip. But after clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in the past week.Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday...

Ukrainian forces are struggling to prevent what could be a significant military setback, as their hold on the area of Russian territory they seized last year is becoming increasingly precarious. A Russian offensive supported by North Korean troops in the past few days has made a serious advance in Russia's Kursk region northeast of Ukraine, breaking through Ukrainian positions and forcing them to withdraw to new defense lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers. Russia is attempting to cut Ukraine's crucial supply road into Kursk, which is already under fire, meaning several thousand Ukrainian troops inside Russia are now...