Ukrainian forces have reportedly been forced into a retreat from captured Russian territories in the Kursk region in what may become a significant loss and even an embarrassment for President Zelensky ahead of peace talks with Moscow.
In a surprise counter-invasion last August, Ukraine’s army seized a large parcel of territory in Russia’s Kursk Oblast along the border between the two warring nations. International observers and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pitched the captured territory as a key bargaining chip for Kyiv in potential peace talks with Russia.
However, according to a report from Forbes, the “bulk” of the Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, including “some of the Ukrainian army’s heaviest brigades”, have been forced to retreat and return to the Ukrainian side of the border as Russian troops threatened to encircle Kyiv’s forces.
While the Ukrainian forces had previously managed to fend off Moscow’s attempts to recapture the territory, Russia has recently succeeded in reclaiming some of the region. The tide reportedly turned with Russia’s deployment its advanced “Rubicon” drone fleet, which was able to break through Ukraine’s radio jamming systems.
Kamikaze drone strikes reportedly took out “hundreds of Ukrainian vehicles”, blocking off a key road, according to Forbes. This was then combined with strikes from Russian warplanes on bridges along the border with Ukraine in an apparent attempt to cut off angles for retreat and allow Russian forces to encircle the stranded soldiers.
It appears that the Ukrainian military managed to avoid such a disaster, with commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi saying this week that “there are no threats surrounding our units in the Kursk region.” However, Syrskyi did not claim that his forces would stay in the Russian region, saying that the “units are taking timely measures to manoeuvre on the advantageous border of defence.”
On Monday, a Ukrainian source told the U.S. news magazine: “My friends managed to leave Kursk, avoiding encirclement… It’s sad that it came to this. But it is what it is.”
Meanwhile, Reuters has claimed to have verified footage showing the Russian flag being raised in the centre of Sudzha, a key border town in the region previously used by the Ukrainians for their supply route.
The potentially major defeat for Kyiv comes as the United States and Ukraine announced this week that they are prepared to seek a ceasefire with Russia as the Trump administration seeks a peace deal to end the bloody conflict.
Should the reports of a retreat from Kursk hold true, it could represent a serious scandal for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Last month, Zelensky travelled to Washington to sign an economic and mineral rights agreement with the United States. However, in a potentially disastrous failure of diplomacy, the Ukrainian leader instead responded sardonically to remarks and even argued with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in front of global media in the Oval Office, rejecting the notion of a ceasefire.
While Kyiv and Washington have seemed to have mended fences since the dramatic blowup, if Zelensky had agreed to a ceasefire last month, Ukraine may have managed to retain the key bargaining chip of the Kursk region just long enough to reach a theoretical ceasefire.
Indeed, Zelensky previously suggested that Kursk could be swapped for Ukrainian territory seized by Russia since the 2022 invasion.
However, although Kyiv and Washington announced readiness to agree to an immediate 30-day ceasefire to facilitate peace negotiations with Moscow, Russia has yet to agree to such a truce. Fighting has continued this week on both sides, with Russian air strikes targeting Kyiv and Ukraine launching large-scale drone attacks on Moscow as well as on pipeline infrastructure, interrupting supplies of Russian gas to EU states such as Hungary.
