The Russian military has dislodged remaining Ukrainian forces from the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement taken by Kiev’s troops in their incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.
The nearby settlements of Melovoy and Podol have also been liberated, the ministry said in a short statement on Thursday.
Ukraine launched its incursion into the Kursk Region on August 6 last year, marking the largest attack on internationally recognized Russian territory since the escalation of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. The advance of the Kiev troops had been swiftly halted, with the territory under Ukrainian control steadily shrinking since then.
In recent days, the Russian military has been making rapid gains near Sudzha, which sits some 9km from the border with Ukraine and had been populated by some 5,000 before the incursion. On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced the liberation of 12 villages in the Kursk Region to the north, east and southeast of the town.
Reports of fighting taking place inside Sudzha and the Ukrainians retreating emerged earlier this week. On Wednesday, videos were also published by Telegram channels purporting to show the troops unfolding a Russian flag on the town’s main square.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev’s total losses in the eight months since the launch of its incursion have reached over 66,500 servicemen, 391 tanks, 311 infantry fighting vehicles, 272 armored personnel carriers, and hundreds of other pieces of equipment, including 13 US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
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