Egypt Daily News – The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that its forces withdrew from the town of Sudzha, days after Russia announced it had regained control of the area.
The recapture of Sudzha, the largest town occupied by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, marks another gain in Russia’s offensive aimed at expelling Ukrainian forces from its territory. With this loss, Kyiv now controls only 10% of the Russian territories it occupied in August 2024, according to reports from Moscow, which have been corroborated by Ukrainian military analysts.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that an investigation has been launched into allegations circulating on social media about the execution of five Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kursk by Russian fighters in recent days.
Reports indicate that the battle for Sudzha was among the most intense in the war, which has now lasted over three years. The city’s population was around 5,000 before the attack, but reports indicate that the number has significantly declined due to the war.
Regarding the loss of the city, Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Thursday that Russian aircraft had carried out multiple airstrikes on Kursk, to the extent that the town was almost entirely destroyed.
Over the past few weeks, Moscow’s forces have reclaimed most of the area that Kyiv seized following its surprise cross-border offensive in the Kursk region in August last year.
The Recapture of Kursk: A Major Defeat for Zelensky
If Russia fully regains control of the Kursk region, it would serve as a major propaganda victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has previously stated that Moscow has no intention of negotiating with Kyiv until Ukraine completely withdraws from the region. He also asserted that Ukrainian soldiers have no option but to surrender, promising that they would be treated in accordance with international norms.
Conversely, the withdrawal represents a significant setback for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had strongly advocated for taking control of the Kursk region. He has faced considerable criticism from Ukrainian officials and military analysts for deploying nearly 30,000 Ukrainian troops to fight on Russian territory, rather than focusing on defending Ukrainian land.
After the Ukrainian Withdrawal
On Saturday, Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Kursk, stated that the region has begun planning for the reconstruction and development of areas reclaimed from Ukrainian control.
According to Khinshtein, the most urgent tasks include the complete removal of landmines and restoring the region to its pre-conflict state before Ukrainian forces entered.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that its engineering units have already started clearing landmines in the reclaimed border areas of the Kursk region. In a statement, the ministry said these efforts aim to restore essential infrastructure and allow the resumption of economic activities after the intense fighting in the region.
Ongoing Attacks on Ukraine
Meanwhile, the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv was targeted by multiple Russian drone strikes during nighttime attacks, according to Dmytro Bryzinsky, head of the city’s military administration.
The drones hit high-rise residential buildings, causing a fire that was extinguished by emergency responders. Bryzinsky also reported that a drone struck a five-story building, damaging private homes in the area.
In the Chernihiv region, reports indicate that a Russian ballistic missile landed outside the border town of Semenivka, causing partial power outages, according to Ukrainian authorities.
