Kursk Map Shows Russia Regain Nearly Quarter of Lost Territory

Moscow’s forces have recaptured territory from Ukraine in the Kursk oblast, according to reports that come two months after Kyiv staged its incursion into Russian territory.

Ukraine stormed the lightly defended Russian region that borders the Sumy oblast on August 6 in an operation that could provide leverage for any future negotiations between Kyiv and Vladimir Putin. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment by email.

However, Russian forces have continued their counteroffensive in the region for the fifth successive day on Monday, having recaptured around 46 square miles, according to the Ukrainian open-source intelligence Telegram channel DeepState.

There are varying accounts of Russian successes in the operation, with the commander of the Akhmat special forces, Apti Alaudinov, saying Moscow had recaptured about half of Ukrainian-occupied land in Kursk.

However, DeepState said that Ukraine had lost around a quarter of the territory it had captured, which, at its peak in August, was around 350 square miles, which is less than the 500 square miles claimed by Kyiv.

The Russian language Astra Telegram channel reported Tuesday that Moscow had cleared the villages of Lyubimovka and neighboring Tolstoy Lug where Ukrainian troops had been cut off after last week. The channel added that a Kyiv garrison in Olgovka further north was “practically destroyed.”

Pro-Moscow military bloggers have also said Russian gained Cherkasskaya Konopelka, southeast of the district’s administrative center of Sudzha, which is occupied by Ukraine.

The latest map by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) illustrates these purported gains, although, in its Monday update, the U.S.-based think tank said there was no independent confirmation of the claims and that data pointed only to a Russian presence five miles from Sudzha.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander in chief, said last week that Russia had redeployed about 50,000 troops to the region, although he added that this has weakened its position on the battlefield in Ukraine.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that, despite Russian attempts to break Kyiv’s defenses, “the guys are holding on and fighting back.”

Muddy Season

The Russian milblogger Boris Rozhin said the muddy season has started and that Russian forces’ reliance on tracked vehicles gives them an advantage over Ukrainian wheeled vehicles, although the terrain conditions affect both sides.

The ISW had previously said that the muddy season was probably a factor in Moscow’s decision to intensify its counterattacks in Kursk.

A soldier from Ukraine’s Aidar battalion, Stanislav Bunyatov, said that the bad weather was interfering with the operations of drones and military equipment.

“In the rains, our drones cannot work effectively,” Bunyatov said, according to independent news outlet Politika Strani, adding how vehicles are getting stuck and that “artillery cannot be replaced by drones, nor can mining.”