‘All directions’: Russia takes back 64 per cent of territory captured by Ukraine in key region
Russia says it has taken back 64 per cent of territory captured by Ukraine in a key region since its offensive last summer.
Russia has made major gains in a key border region, recapturing 64 per cent of the territory taken by Ukraine since its offensive there last summer, according to a senior Russian military leader.
Sergei Rudskoi, first deputy head of Russia’s General Staff, told the Krasnaya Zvezda military newspaper that Russia has taken back over 800 square kilometres in the Russian border region of Kursk – territory which spans nearly 30,000 square kilometres and is seen as an important bargaining chip in any talks on ending the war.
“Currently the initiative in the Kursk region is fully on our side. Russian forces are advancing in all directions,” Mr Rudskoi said.
He added in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Russia had taken “around 75 per cent of the territory” and in the eastern Lugansk region, Ukraine controls “less than one per cent”.
Based on Mr Rudskoi’s statements, Ukraine still controls more than 400 square kilometres in Kursk.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said last week Kyiv controlled around 500 square kilometres in Kursk.
Russia launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, sparking the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.
Last year, Russia took “almost 4,500 square kilometres of territory” in Ukraine, Mr Rudskoi said, calling it a “breakthrough” year.
Since the start of 2025, Russia has taken “over 600 square kilometres more,” he added.
“The Kyiv regime will not be able to significantly change the situation on the battlefield any more.”
‘Lie’: Ukraine denies Putin claim of fresh cross-border attack
The news of recaptured Kursk comes as Ukraine rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim on Wednesday that his troops had crossed into Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region in the first ground attack there since 2022.
“I was told an hour ago that at night fighters of the 810th brigade crossed the border of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and entered the territory of the enemy,” Mr Putin said in televised remarks, adding that “our troops are advancing along the entire contact line”.
Russian state media reported that the 810th brigade was deployed to the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy region.
The DeepState website, with ties to Ukraine’s military, also said that the brigade was fighting in the Kursk region.
Kyiv rejected the claims of a major Russian operation and said it had destroyed a small sabotage group.
“Putin’s information about a large-scale Russian offensive is a lie,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian official tasked with countering disinformation.
He said that a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage unit had tried to cross the border but had been “destroyed”.
“There are currently no Russian troops capable of carrying out a large-scale offensive into the territory of Ukraine,” he said.
“The Russians are trying to spread additional fake news, in particular about some breakthroughs in the Ukrainian defence in the Kursk region and a massive invasion of Ukraine. This is not true,” Ukrainian military spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy wrote on Facebook.
He said a Russian unit had tried to advance towards the Ukrainian state border from the Russian village of Nikolayevo-Daryino in an attack launched at around 6:00 am, but it was “unsuccessful”.
‘Transparent battlefield’
Almost three years on from Moscow’s invasion, soldiers are now having to fight on what has been called a ‘transparent battlefield’.
Surveillance drones lifestreaming video footage in real-time have been deployed on front lines, while satellites scan the Earth from space, The Economist reports.
Armoured vehicles have also become ineffective, with soldiers turning to quadbikes and motorcycles to outrun first-person view drones, carrying munition.
“When a tank appears it’s like dropping a plate of food in front of a table of hungry drone operators,” ‘Darwin’, an FPV operator in Ukraine’s 92nd Brigade, told the publication.
Changes to the battlefield have meant it’s “hard achieve surprise,” Glib Voloskyi, an analyst for volunteer organisation Come Back Alive, told the publication.
“It is also almost impossible to achieve local force superiority: to gather and concentrate troops for an attack. The lethality of fire is greater because targets are easily identified, and artillery adjustments can be made quickly. The transparent battlefield gives the defender the advantage.”
Trump and Zelensky trade blows
As fighting continues, US President Donald Trump traded blows with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week, accusing Ukraine of “starting” the war.
“You should have ended it three years (ago). You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Mr Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night.
“But they chose not to do it that way.”
On Wednesday, Mr Zelensky told reporters Mr Trump was repeating Russian talking points.
“Unfortunately, President Trump — I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us — unfortunately … he is living in this (Russian) disinformation bubble”.
Later on Wednesday, Mr Trump took to social media to label his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator”.
Mr Trump said Mr Zelensky “refuses to have Elections” and is “very low in Ukrainian Polls”.
Mr Zelensky was a “Dictator without Elections,” he said, adding “ Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left”.
Moscow has for some time questioned the legitimacy of Mr Zelensky due to the delayed Ukrainian elections. However, Russia’s own elections are hardly free and fair with no proper opposition to Putin. He has been in power for 20 years.
“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do,” Mr Trump went on.
“I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job”.
- With AFP
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