Ukraine nonetheless holds floor inside Russia’s Kursk, commander says

Ukraine’s prime navy commander says its forces are nonetheless defending a small space of territory inside Russia that it captured nearly a yr in the past.

In August 2024 Ukraine launched a shock incursion into the Kursk area, capturing greater than 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of Russian land.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky stated 10,000 Russian troops try to drive his forces again.

Whereas Russia has repeatedly insisted it had recaptured your entire area, Syrsky stated on Sunday that Ukraine continues to be holding round 90 sq km (56 sq miles) within the Kursk area.

Chatting with reporters on Sunday, Syrsky vowed to extend the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia.

“In fact, we are going to proceed,” he stated.

“Provided that we aren’t combating towards the inhabitants, we’re combating and destroying purely navy targets.”

Ukraine seized dozens of villages within the Kursk area shortly after its incursion began on 6 August 2024.

President Volodymyr Zelensky stated the Kursk operation established a buffer zone which prevented Russian forces from being deployed in key areas of the entrance in japanese Ukraine.

However, Kyiv’s advances stalled after Russia rushed reinforcements to the realm – together with 1000’s of troops from its ally North Korea.

In latest months Ukrainian forces have been in retreat in Kursk after dealing with 70,000 Russian troops and heavy drone assaults as a part of Moscow’s drive to regain the territory.

Final autumn, North Korea despatched an estimated 11,000 troops to Kursk to struggle off the Ukrainian cross-border incursion.

Western officers advised the BBC in January that at the least 1,000 North Korean troops in Russia had been killed in simply three months.

Earlier this month, the federal government in Pyongyang promised to ship 1000’s of mine-clearing troops and builders to Russia’s Kursk area to revive broken infrastructure.