Russian troops have launched an attack on the town of Suda, the main population centre in the Kursk region that was captured by Ukraine last year, the Russian commander-in-chief said on Tuesday. This advancement brings Moscow on the verge of ending its first invasion of Russian territory since World War II.
“We surround Suda from almost every aspect,” Lt. Gen. Apti Araudinov, the top Russian commander of Kursk, told Russian state television on Tuesday.
Russia's recent rapid movement around Sudzha erased most of the territorial interests made by Ukrainian forces during a surprising attack on Western Russia in August. Kiev maintained Kursk's territory despite his serious injuries, hoping to use it as a negotiation tip for peace negotiations.
Russian activists and Ukrainian officials said that amid Ukraine's advances, between 2,000 and 3,000 Russian civilians had been evacuated to Sudzha by February. Their fate is unknown.
By Tuesday afternoon, Ukrainian forces had retreated from the east side of the town across the Psule River, with anti-war Russian military analyst Ian Matbev writing to his telegram channel. He cited a video posted to social media of the town's Russian soldiers. Deep State, a Ukrainian group with ties to the Ukrainian army that maps the battlefield, gave a similar rating on Tuesday.
Matveev wrote that it remains unclear whether Ukrainian soldiers will attempt to adopt defenses on the west side of Sudzha or continue retreating towards the Ukrainian border a few miles west.
On Tuesday morning, Russian state media released photos of Russian soldiers standing at the eastern entrance to Suda, the county seat of Kursk, which became the main logistics and administrative hub of Ukrainian occupation forces. The New York Times confirmed the location of the photos.
On Tuesday morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that its forces had released 12 Kursk villages and 38 square miles in the last 24 hours, with analysts speculating that Ukraine's presence in Russia could end within days.
The Kursk attacks are part of a broader effort by Russia and Ukraine to improve their position ahead of peace talks mediated by the Trump administration, Russian military analyst Valery Silyaev wrote on his telegram channel on Monday.
When Moscow's troops advanced in Kursk, Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian cities since the start of the war on Tuesday. This is a move that analysts interpreted as an attempt to show that Washington still can fight Russia.
“Everyone has the cards they have on the table,” Silyaev wrote.
The collapse of Ukraine, the rapid collapse of Ukrainian defense around Suddha marks the end of Kiev's attempts to maintain captured Russian territory. To maintain the territory, Ukraine has moved some of its highest reserves to Kursk. This is a strategy that critics have said has weakened Kiev's ability to protect himself from Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly defended the strategy in Kursk politically, saying the territory can trade with the land occupied by Russia in Ukraine.
Russian soldiers and commanders fighting in Kursk said earlier in an interview that they had expected the Battle of Sudzha to be extended and one of the bloodiest standoffs of the three-year war. estimate.
The Ukrainian glacier retreat has suddenly turned into a defeat over the past week.
Russian military analysts said Kursk's breakthrough began on Saturday with a shocking attack on the rear of Ukraine. Russian officials said 800 fighters will walk around 10 miles of an unused gas pipeline, 4.5 feet wide, and appear within Ukraine's territory, attracting enemies to the northern outskirts of Sudaza.
Russian propagandists and officials described the operation as a heroic feat, but Ukrainian sources call it a death sentence, and some Russian attackers allegedly suffocated from the residual methane in the pipeline. The claim could not be independently verified.
“I respect them for this creativity,” said an official from the Ukrainian military because they were not allowed to speak publicly while anonymous. He added that the Russian attackers had been seriously injured and only 90 people had arrived in Sudzha from the pipeline.
The effectiveness of the pipeline operation is controversial, but coincided with the violation of Ukraine's defense by the Russian troops in some parts of Kursk.
General Oleksandr Silsky, the top Ukrainian military commander, said on Monday night that Kiev was sending reinforcements to Kursk, but the Russian claims were in the danger of large-scale conditions of Ukrainian soldiers there.
“The decision was made to strengthen our group with the necessary forces and resources,” he said. He added that the Ukrainian army is retreating to a more advantageous defensive position. Some commentators added that it was interpreted as a prelude that could result in a complete withdrawal from Kursk.
Russian military analysts said the withdrawal would likely simply transfer the battle to Ukrainian territory, snatching tens of thousands of Russian soldiers and North Korean allies and Kiev's troops in the Smie region adjacent to Karsk.
Sanjana Varghese, Marc Santora and Michael Schwirtz contributed the report.
