Russian troops seem near driving Ukraine from all of the territory it seized within the Kursk area of Russia final 12 months, a prospect that President Trump referenced in a social media submit on Friday.
The Russian push in Kursk appeared to speed up after Mr. Trump froze army assist and intelligence assist to Ukraine on March 3. The stream of assist resumed this week as Ukraine agreed to a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire with Russia.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin expressed preliminary assist for the proposal however mentioned he nonetheless had questions that required extra dialogue. These questions, he informed a information convention, included the destiny of Ukrainian troops nonetheless in Kursk.
Here’s a take a look at the Ukrainian incursion — the primary on Russian soil since World Warfare II — and the way Russian troops are combating again.
Why is Kursk essential?
Kursk is an space of western Russia that borders the Sumy area of Ukraine. Sumy had lengthy been regarded as a spot the place Russia may strive opening a brand new entrance in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
However in a transfer that shocked even its key allies, Ukrainian troops caught Moscow off guard final summer time, pouring throughout a thinly defended border and opening a brand new entrance themselves.
The principle aims, one Ukrainian colonel informed The New York Instances, had been to divert Russian troops from the grueling combating within the japanese Donbas area of Ukraine, push Moscow’s artillery out of vary of the Sumy area and harm Russian morale.
Inside weeks of the incursion, Ukraine had established management over a slice of Kursk that its officers mentioned encompassed almost 500 sq. miles of farmland and settlements. Although barely a sliver of Russia, the most important nation on the earth, the assault was a humiliation for Mr. Putin. It additionally shocked Ukraine’s allies, together with the USA, who had not been informed prematurely.
An important city in Kursk that Ukrainian forces seized was Sudzha, an administrative heart with a inhabitants of round 5,000 individuals earlier than the incursion.
Analysts mentioned that Ukraine’s offensive was a raffle, stretching its army assets at a time when Kyiv’s troops had been struggling to defend a protracted entrance line in their very own territory.
Mr. Zelensky mentioned that his army didn’t need to keep on Russian soil indefinitely, and that territory gained in Kursk might be used to strengthen Ukraine’s place in future negotiations with Moscow.
How has Russia responded?
Initially, somewhat than diverting massive numbers of troops to defend Kursk, Mr. Putin mentioned that japanese Ukraine remained Moscow’s most important army focus. Russian troops continued their creeping advance inside Ukraine, taking the city of Vuhledar in October after which pushing farther west.
Weeks into its incursion in Kursk, Ukraine’s push slowed and its troops started step by step to lose floor as Russian forces deployed there in higher numbers.
Then, within the fall, Russia acquired a lift from its ally North Korea, which deployed round 11,000 troopers to Kursk to help Moscow’s protection. The deployment at first unnerved Ukraine and its allies. However the North Korean troops suffered wave after wave of heavy losses and, for a time, had been withdrawn from the frontline.
In latest weeks, Russian forces, assisted by North Korean fighters, have superior quickly in Kursk, utilizing drones and fighter jets to retake a lot of the territory that Ukraine had held.
In an indication of renewed army confidence, Mr. Putin visited a command submit close to the entrance in Kursk late Wednesday, the Kremlin mentioned.
Ukraine’s high army commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, pushed again towards the concept of a right away Ukrainian withdrawal from the world. He mentioned on Wednesday night time that Ukrainian troops would “maintain the road within the Kursk area for so long as it stays affordable and mandatory.”
On Thursday, Russia’s Protection Ministry claimed that its forces had retaken Sudzha. There was no instant remark from Ukraine. If confirmed, that Russian advance would depart solely small pockets of Russian land alongside the border below Ukrainian management.
Trump weighs in on Kursk
In a submit Friday on his Reality Social platform, President Trump mentioned 1000’s of Ukrainian troops had been “utterly surrounded by the Russian army.” That gave the impression to be a reference to the Russian claims that Ukrainian troopers had been surrounded within the Kursk area — claims which have been challenged by unbiased analysts and that Ukraine’s army officers have rejected.
Mr. Putin a day earlier had steered that he wished Ukraine to order its troopers in Kursk to give up as a part of any potential cease-fire deal, signaling that Russia wouldn’t allow them to peacefully withdraw.
“I’ve strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared,” Mr. Trump wrote on Reality Social.
Maria Varenikova and Anton Troianovski contributed reporting.
