Ukraine has lost more than 40% of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counterassaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.
The source, who is on Ukraine's General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv's forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared 2½ years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometers; now, of course, this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks," the source said. "Now we control approximately 800 square kilometers. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate."
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II and caught Moscow unprepared.
With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any peace negotiations.
But Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's main objectives were to occupy the entire Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and oust Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.
"For Putin, the most important thing is to push us out of the Kursk region. I am sure that he wants to push us out by January 20," Zelenskiy told media, referring to when Donald Trump will be inaugurated as U.S. president. "It is very important for him [Putin] to demonstrate that he is in control of the situation."
The Ukrainian General Staff source reiterated that about 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived in the Kursk region in support of Russia, but that the bulk of their forces was still finalizing their training.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Kyiv's freshest assessment of the state of play in the Kursk region. Reuters could not independently verify the figures or descriptions given. Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean forces in Kursk.
Ukraine's armed forces chief said on November 11 that its beleaguered forces were not just battling crack Russian reinforcements in Kursk but also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in eastern Ukraine and bracing for an infantry assault in the south.
Threatening Russian advance
The General Staff source said the Kurakhove region was the most threatened for Kyiv now as Russian forces were advancing there at 200 to 300 meters a day and had managed to break through in some areas with armored vehicles backed by anti-drone defenses.
The town of Kurakhove is a stepping stone toward the critical logistical hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. Overall Russia has about 575,000 troops fighting in Ukraine, the Ukrainian General Staff source said, and is aiming to increase its forces up to around 690,000.
Russia does not disclose numbers involved in its fighting, and Reuters could not independently verify those figures.
Ukraine’s strategy
As Ukraine fights a bigger and better-equipped enemy, Kyiv has sought to disrupt Russian logistics and supply chains by hitting Russian weapons and ammunition depots, airfields and other military targets well inside Russia.
Ukraine gained a freer hand to do so earlier this month after, according to sources familiar with the matter, U.S. President Joe Biden dropped his opposition to Kyiv firing U.S.-supplied missiles at targets deep inside Russia in response to North Korea's entry into the war.
Last week Ukraine fired U.S. ATACMS and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia. One of the ATACMS targets was an arms depot about 110 kilometers inside Russia.
Moscow vowed to respond to what it sees as an escalation by Ukraine's Western supporters. On Thursday, Russia launched a new medium-range ballistic missile into the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in a likely warning to NATO.
Ukrainian officials are holding talks with the United States and Britain regarding new air defense systems capable of protecting Ukrainian cities and civilians from the new longer-range aerial threats.
The Ukrainian General Staff source said the military had also implemented measures to bolster air defenses over the capital, Kyiv, and planned similar steps for the city of Sumy in the north and Kharkiv in the northeast, both near front lines.
Russia now occupies a fifth of Ukraine, and Putin has said he wants Kyiv to drop ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, demands Kyiv has rejected as tantamount to capitulation.
