Ukrainian forces are likely withdrawing from Russia’s Kursk Oblast amid a Russian offensive, Forbes reports.
The battle for control over the Kursk front has reached a critical juncture as Russian forces intensify their offensive operations, significantly limiting Ukraine’s strategic options, military analysts report. Russian troops have advanced further into the region, making key territorial gains while leveraging overwhelming drone warfare to disrupt Ukrainian logistics and supply chains.
Two weeks ago, an elite Russian drone unit disrupted Ukrainian supply lines. On 25 February, a series of precision strikes disabled dozens of vehicles along the main road to Sudzha. This town served as the primary base for Ukraine’s 10,000-strong force, which had been holding a significant but rapidly shrinking area in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
That was “the day you started worrying about Kursk,” wrote independent analyst Andrew Perpetua. Later, most Ukrainian units, including their most combat-capable brigades, appear to have conducted an organized withdrawal from Kursk Oblast, returning to Ukrainian territory.
“My friends managed to leave Kursk, avoiding encirclement. It’s sad that it came to this. But it is what it is,” one Ukrainian source claimed.
Ukraine’s offensive in the Kursk Oblast last August led to the rapid capture of hundreds of square miles. However, Ukrainian forces failed to consolidate control over strategically advantageous positions. Their northward advance was stalled by Russian counterattacks near the village of Pohrebky, while in the east, they encountered 12,000 North Korean soldiers.
Despite being outnumbered three to one, Ukrainian forces held their positions using minefields, drones, and artillery to repel attacks.
One such engagement occurred in mid-February when Russia’s 155th Separate Marine Brigade launched an assault. Their column, advancing toward Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade under a Soviet red flag, entered a meticulously prepared “kill zone.”
Some vehicles hit mines, while others were destroyed by drones and artillery. One Russian soldier, climbing out of a damaged armored personnel carrier, took a few steps in the snow before collapsing and exploding after being struck by a drone.
“We are extinguishing all the enemy’s attempts to advance in Kursk,” the 47th Mechanized Brigade said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, considering further ceasefire negotiations, has floated the idea of a territorial exchange.
“We will trade Ukrainian territory for Russian territory,” he said.
Earlier, nearly 100 Russian soldiers used a gas pipeline to advance toward the positions of Ukraine’s Defense Forces near Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
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