President Vladimir Putin has made his first visit to Russia’s Kursk region since Moscow asserted that he had expelled Ukrainian forces from the area, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday.
The Russian military declared that it had fully reclaimed border territory by late April, nearly nine months after losing a segment of the region during the Ukraine invasion, which came as a surprise.
Ukraine refuted the claim, stating that its troops remain active in the Kursk region. Losing control of Kursk would diminish Kyiv’s leverage in negotiations to conclude the war, which could involve trading its gains for land occupied by Russia.
Here are the key moments and their impacts during the battle for Kursk:
Ukraine’s Blitz
The Ukrainian army initiated an offensive in Kursk on August 6, 2024, with a spectacular assault utilizing combat-hardened mechanized units that swiftly overpowered lightly armed Russian border guards and inexperienced soldiers. Hundreds of enemy troops were captured.
This incursion represented a significant embarrassment for the Kremlin, marking the first occupation of Russian territory by invaders since World War II.
The operation remained a closely guarded secret from the Ukrainian army, with communications concerning the mission reportedly kept to a minimum. Ukrainian forces managed to move under the dense forest cover while Russian drones and intelligence assets were preoccupied with battles in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian units rapidly advanced deep into the Kursk region from various directions, facing minimal resistance and causing widespread disorder and panic. As the most capable Russian forces were engaged in the Donetsk region, Moscow lacked the manpower to defend Kursk and other border areas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented the invasion as a strategic move to divert Russian troops away from the eastern front, suggesting that Kyiv could eventually negotiate a settlement involving Russian-occupied territory.
General Oleksandr Silsky, Ukraine’s chief commander, reported that Ukrainian forces had seized approximately 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) and around 100 villages in a region spanning 29,900 square kilometers (11,540 square miles). Unlike the static frontlines in Donetsk, Ukrainian units were able to maneuver freely without establishing a permanent presence in the many settlements they captured.
The incursion boosted morale in Ukraine as it countered recent battlefield setbacks, though some skeptics viewed it as a risky diversion that siphoned capable forces from Donetsk, where they were steadily losing ground due to Russian assaults.
Russia’s Slow Response
On the first day of the offensive, Russia relied heavily on fighter jets and helicopters, lacking the ground forces to effectively counter the incursion.
Simultaneously, Moscow began to withdraw a mix of fortifications from across Russia. Some of these troops had no combat experience and faced difficulties coordinating with one another, which contributed to Ukraine’s rapid gains.
However, contrary to Kyiv’s hopes, the invasion did not compel Moscow to deploy a significant number of troops to the region. Russia, lacking the resources for a fast counteroffensive, focused instead on halting Ukraine’s deeper advance by securing supply routes and targeting Kyiv’s reserves.
The Role of North Korea
In the fall, officials from Ukraine, the U.S., and South Korea indicated that North Korea, which had previously supplied arms to Moscow, had deployed 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to fight in Kursk.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang offered ambiguous responses to these reports, emphasizing military cooperation while avoiding direct acknowledgment of troop deployments. However, they confirmed this development last month.
General Valery Gerasimov, a top Russian military official, informed Putin on April 26 that North Korean soldiers were “initiated into combat missions alongside Russian troops during ongoing operations against Ukraine.”
Two days later, a statement on the Kremlin’s website featured Putin praising North Korean soldiers for their heroism, stating, “The Russians will never forget.”
“We will always honor the hero who sacrificed their life for Russia as we fight alongside our Russian brothers for the sake of our nation’s freedom,” Putin remarked.
Meanwhile, North Korean soldiers are reported to be highly disciplined, and Ukrainian forces, along with their allies, faced significant casualties due to their inexperience in combat and unfamiliarity with the local terrain.
In January, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported that approximately 300 North Korean soldiers were killed, with 2,700 injured. Zelenskyy previously claimed that 4,000 North Korean casualties had occurred, while U.S. estimates suggested around 1,200.
In February, South Korean intelligence indicated that North Korea had dispatched additional forces to Russia.
Russia’s Increased Efforts to Regain Kursk
The Kremlin bolstered its forces in Kursk during the fall, slowly enhancing their attempts to expel Ukrainians from the region.
By February, Russia had reclaimed about two-thirds of the territory it lost, leaving significant areas around Sudzha, a border town, as the main operational hub for Ukrainian forces.
In March, the pressure on Ukrainian forces intensified as Russian military units aimed to sever supply corridors between Sudzha and Ukraine’s Sumi region. Russian artillery and drones relentlessly targeted roads used for Ukrainian resupply, littering them with wreckage and hampering logistical operations.
The blockading of supply routes placed the Ukrainian military in a precarious position, according to Michael Coffman from Carnegie. “As the situation in Kursk became more pressured, it turned increasingly unsustainable,” he noted.
In a bold early March offensive, 600 Russian troops advanced 15 kilometers (over nine miles) through the natural gas pipeline, launching a surprise attack on Ukrainian units from behind.
This operation coincided with a halt in U.S. arms supplies and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, which followed a tense White House meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Donald Trump on February 28. Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposal after consultations, even as the U.S. stated support had not been frozen.
Ukraine’s Outcomes
In April, Ukraine’s military leadership dismissed Moscow’s assertion of full control over Kursk. On Wednesday, they released a map indicating that Ukrainian forces still maintain a presence in a small section near the border, asserting that operations continue “in designated areas of Kursk’s border region.”
Losing control of Kursk would weaken Kyiv’s position in peace negotiations and eliminate potential leverage for exchanging territory lost earlier in the conflict.
Currently, Russia controls one-fifth of Ukraine, and Kyiv’s defeat around Kursk further amplifies the threat of Moscow extending its reach into the Sumy border region.
Last month, during a visit to Russian military headquarters in Kursk, President Putin signaled plans for establishing a “security zone” along the border, hinting at a possible advance into Sumi.
In late April, Gerasimov stated efforts were underway to create security zones in the Sumi border area, with Russian forces controlling over 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) in that region.
___
Follow the AP’s report on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Source: apnews.com