Russia says it is close to ousting Ukraine from its Kursk region
Summary
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the region for the first time since Kyiv’s lightning incursion and as peace talks gain steam.
Russia said its forces were in the final stages of ousting Ukraine’s army from the Kursk region, where Kyiv had taken Russian territory that it had hoped to use as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations.
The Russian military said Thursday it had retaken Sudzha, the biggest town held by Ukraine in the Kursk region, after recapturing a string of villages in recent days. Ukraine didn’t immediately respond to comment early Thursday. It had been using Sudzha as a logistical hub to resupply troops in the area.
The Russian advance came at a crucial moment for cease-fire negotiations that have gathered pace this week. President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, who has also been involved in talks to end the Ukraine war, was headed for Moscow to discuss a proposed 30-day cease-fire agreed to by Kyiv this week, according to two U.S. officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a command post in Kursk on Wednesday, his first time in the region since Ukraine’s incursion there, and after the U.S. and Ukraine agreed to the cease-fire proposal that Russia has yet to respond to.
“Our immediate goal is as soon as possible to conclusively destroy the enemy entrenched on the territory of Kursk region," Putin said, dressed in military fatigues as he addressed top generals.
The rapid retreat of Ukraine’s forces in Kursk followed a pause in U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine in the wake of an Oval Office confrontation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump. Washington said it would restart military aid after Ukraine agreed to the terms of a cease-fire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia this week.
The loss of Ukraine’s toehold in Kursk, where at one point it had captured an area roughly the size of the city of Los Angeles, would mark a significant defeat for Kyiv. Russia has thrown enormous resources into the campaign to recapture its territory, deploying North Korean troops and staging daring operations. One unit crawled through a disused section of a natural gas pipeline this week to outflank Ukrainian troops defending Sudzha, with several dying of methane poisoning, according to pro-Kremlin war bloggers.
Critics of the Kursk operation, including some in Ukraine, said the incursion into Russia had drained resources and manpower from strained parts of the Ukrainian front line. Zelensky has argued that control of Russian territory would provide leverage in any future negotiations to end the war.
On Wednesday, Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, said his highest priority was to safeguard the lives of Ukrainian troops.
“To do this, the units of the Defense Forces, if necessary, maneuver to more favorable positions," he said in a post on social media. He added that Sudzha has been almost completely destroyed by fighting.
Write to Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com
