Russia pushes Ukrainian forces back in Kursk after US halts support

An accelerating advance by Russian and North Korean forces is threatening Ukraine’s toehold in Kursk, the slice of Russian territory that Ukrainian officials had hoped would give them leverage in any peace talks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

An accelerating advance by Russian and North Korean forces is threatening Ukraine’s toehold in Kursk, the slice of Russian territory that Ukrainian officials had hoped would give them leverage in any peace talks.

Russian and North Korean troops in recent days seized several villages in the Kursk region and used overwhelming drone power to largely cut supply routes to the main Ukrainian force in the city of Sudzha, according to soldiers in the area and analysts.

The advance came ahead of talks this week between senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.

It also followed the U.S. decision to halt intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries to Ukraine. The move immediately reduced Ukraine’s ability to carry out long-range strikes, which rely on accurate targeting data, and over time will deprive Ukraine of crucial ammunition and weapons.

Ukraine had since the start of the year stabilised much of the 800-mile front line inside Ukraine, stalling Russian advances and counterattacking around the embattled eastern cities of Toretsk and Pokrovsk, which Russia had been on the verge of seizing.

But the quickening advances in Kursk threaten a surprise Ukrainian incursion launched in August that quickly overwhelmed unprepared Russian defenses and seized dozens of towns and villages.

One Ukrainian artillery gunner deployed on the Kursk front said he was firing to provide cover for soldiers pulling back from the area.

“I’m covering their withdrawal so that they don’t become encircled,” the soldier said in a phone message. “Right, f -- them up,” he said to a colleague.

Ukraine’s leadership touted the push into Russia, the first by a foreign army since World War II, as a way to prevent a Russian attack from there, and to capture prisoners for exchange and boost Kyiv’s negotiating position in case of peace talks. Critics said it drained resources needed to protect the front elsewhere when Ukrainian troops were already stretched.

Russia threw vast resources into attempting to retake Kursk, suffering large losses. It deployed some of its best units there and, in December, sent more than 10,000 North Korean troops.

The North Korean troops, unprepared for the modern battlefield, were initially eliminated with relative ease. But they are now creating difficulties because, unlike their Russian counterparts, they push forward in waves, exhausting Ukrainian resources, said Roman Pohorily, a co-founder of DeepState, a Ukrainian group that analyses images and videos posted on social media and information from troops to produce an accurate map of the front line.

“All these latest advances, in most cases, are thanks to them,” Pohorily said. Once the North Koreans break through, Russian troops follow them to secure the positions, pushing back Ukrainian defenses.

The Russian army has been preparing the offensive in Kursk since January, Pohorily said. That is when drone operators and artillery units began probing a critical Ukrainian supply route for weaknesses, then bringing in a high number of drone operators to bombard it.

“Everything that’s moving to there or from there -- 95% -- is attacked,” Pohorily said of Kursk.

Drones are playing a key role in the Russians’ push forward, and the strong reconnaissance means Ukrainians have trouble moving unnoticed. Soldiers said Russia was using huge numbers of drones controlled via a thin fiber-optic cable, which prevents Ukrainians from downing them using electronic jammers.

One Ukrainian soldier operating in the area said Russia was at times deploying drone pilots closer to the front line than usual, extending their explosive crafts’ ranges.

The air dominance means not only equipment, but even troop movements don’t go unnoticed, soldiers said.

Another soldier said rotating soldiers into front-line positions often required walking 15 miles on foot. “That’s why everything is collapsing.” It is as yet unclear whether Ukrainians would deploy reinforcements to try to stabilize this part of the front or will need to pull out from Kursk altogether as heated battles are ongoing. If Ukrainians do pull out, it would bring Russians closer to the Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Kyiv’s troops will need to continue their defense.

Withdrawing would create difficulties not only militarily, but politically, as Ukraine had hoped to trade Russia’s Kursk region for a chunk of Ukraine occupied by Moscow’s forces.

It could also feed into Washington’s narrative of Ukraine potentially negotiating from a position of weakness -- a perception strengthened by President Trump’s decision to withdraw military aid to the country.

Despite the difficulty in Kursk, Ukraine has had success elsewhere at the front. After a grueling battle, it has managed to halt Russia’s offensive on the city of Pokrovsk, which looked all but lost only a few months prior. Ukraine has also mounted a successful counteroffensive in the eastern city of Toretsk, where Ukrainian forces gained ground.

Analysts are divided on whether Russians fighting in the east are regrouping or running out of steam due to heavy losses. Even as brutal battles continue, Russia loses more people and materiel than Ukraine on the battlefield.

The Wall Street Journal