Free Republic

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...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Ukraine has captured the key town of Sudzha in the Russian Kursk region, providing his forces with an important foothold as troops continue to surge across Russia. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported the capture of Sudzha during a Thursday briefing, Zelensky said in a video address. Ukraine is setting up a commandant’s office in the town, Zelensky said, while more than 80 settlements in Kursk have now fallen to advancing Ukrainian troops. “I thank every warrior of ours who ensures all this,” Zelensky said. Moscow has not yet commented on Ukraine’s...

Ukrainian forces are pushing further into the Kursk region of Russia, in a cross-border incursion that surprised even American officials, multiple US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN. Ukrainian forces are comprised of a mix of Ukrainian regular and special operations units, unlike previous Ukrainian operations inside Russia that often involved undercover units and local sympathizers. The intention, say US and Ukrainian officials, is multifaceted, in part to disrupt and demoralize Russian forces and in part to divert Russian forces away from other parts of the eastern front. Russia claimed on Thursday to have halted a Ukrainian incursion into its territory,...