Free Republic

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...

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...

Russia has recaptured a monastery that was one of the last remaining Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region after a fierce 10-day battle. Vladimir Putin’s forces are in control of the St Nicholas Belogorsky Monastery in the border village of Gornal, around a mile from Ukraine, state media reported. It had been used as a base for as many as 300 Ukrainian soldiers trying to organise the defence of captured Russian territory. Moscow’s troops managed to break the Ukrainian foothold at the historic landmark after fierce fighting in the area The claimed Russian victory means Ukraine’s shock incursion into Russia’s...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

The Russian army's advance in the Kursk region against Ukrainian troops is threatening Kyiv's only territorial bargaining card at a critical time in the war, CNN reported on Sunday. Last August, Ukraine had launched its surprising incursion into Kursk and managed to capture territory that was seen not only as a useful possession to be exchanged for Russian-occupied territory but also was a campaign that sought to divert Moscow's resources from the front lines in the east. However, observers now say that the current Russian advances have put Ukraine in a much weaker position and are likely to become more...

None offered

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec POSOBIEC: The Russians Have Cut Off The Ukrainians And Their Supply Lines in Kursk rumble.com POSOBIEC: The Russians Have Cut Off The Ukrainians And Their Supply Lines 1:16 PM · Mar 8, 2025

Upwards of 10,000 Ukrainian troops are at risk of encirclement along the Kursk front as a result of recent Russian advances that have choked remaining supply lines and escape points, according to recent reports from the front. In 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a surprise attack on Russian territory in the Kursk Oblast. In order to do so, the Ukrainian Armed Forces diverted limited resources from the nation’s east in order to launch an operation that, according to Russian and Eurasian affairs expert Glenn Diesen, was designed as publicity move for western audiences.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for more sanctions against Russia after massive air strikes pounded Ukraine for a second straight night, killing at least 20 people, even amid reports his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal Moscow, meanwhile, claimed it’s retaken three towns in Kursk, Russia, with some reports saying Ukrainian troops in the region are surrounded.

Russian and North Korean forces have made significant battlefield advances in recent days in the Kursk region of Russia, threatening Ukraine’s supply lines and its hold on a patch of land it hopes to use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, according to Ukrainian soldiers, Russian military bloggers and military analysts. Working together, a new influx of North Korean soldiers and well-trained Russian drone units, advancing under the cover of ferocious artillery fire and aerial bombardment, have been able to overwhelm important Ukrainian positions, Ukrainian soldiers said. “It’s true; we can’t stop them,” said Oleksii, the commander of a...