Ukrainian army chief claims more territorial gains in Russia’s Kursk region

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have advanced another 1–2 kilometres into Russia’s Kursk region, AFU Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday.

Syrskyi informed Zelensky that the AFU had “completed” the elimination of Russian forces in the town of Sudzha, where fierce fighting had been reported for much of last week.

According to Syrskyi, the AFU captured over 100 Russian soldiers on Wednesday. The previous day, Zelensky reported that the AFU controlled 74 Russian villages, while acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov said Monday that 28 settlements in the region were under Ukrainian control.

Meanwhile, fighting continued in eastern Ukraine despite The Wall Street Journal reporting on Wednesday that Russia was diverting troops from their positions in Kharkiv and Donbas to bolster the defence of Kursk.

“Not for a second do we forget about our eastern front,” Zelensky said on Wednesday, adding that he had instructed Syrskyi to reinforce eastern Ukraine with military equipment provided by Kyiv’s Western allies.

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on Wednesday that Russian forces had repelled six AFU attacks and defeated “up to 270 AFU soldiers and 16 armoured units” over the past 24 hours. The report did not mention the status of Russian forces in Sudzha, only saying that the Russian army “continued to repel the AFU invasion attempt”.

The Russian Defence Ministry also claimed to have captured 18 AFU servicemen, releasing a video that appeared to show five of them blindfolded and with their hands bound.

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service reported, citing the Ukrainian presidential office, that Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas met with Zelensky on Tuesday, where he claimed that Russian troops were similarly withdrawing from the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. “We even call it the ‘demilitarisation’ of Kaliningrad, which is happening thanks to the bravery of your military, thanks to your decisions,” Kasciunas told Zelensky.