Ukrainian Forces Struggle to Maintain Toehold in Russian Border Region: Kyiv

Hard-pressed Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold onto territory they captured this summer in Russia’s western Kursk region, according to military officials in Kyiv.
Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian military, said that Russian forces deployed in Kursk were “trying to dislodge“ Ukraine’s troops and ”advance deep into the territory” that Ukraine controls.
Syrskyi reportedly made the remarks during an unannounced visit to the frontline in Kursk on Nov. 11.
He also claimed that the offensive in Kursk had succeeded in drawing elite Russian units from the Donbas region, comprising Donetsk and Luhansk, where Moscow’s forces have made significant gains in recent weeks.
“Tens of thousands of enemies from the best Russian shock units would have stormed our positions in the Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, or Toretsk directions [in Donbas], which would have significantly worsened the situation at the [eastern] front,” Syrskyi said.
According to Kyiv, Russia has also deployed 11,000 North Korean troops to Kursk, where they have already taken part in the fighting alongside Russian forces.
Moscow, meanwhile, has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in the flashpoint border region.
Russia’s defense ministry said this week that its aircraft were in the process of mopping up Ukrainian troops and equipment still deployed in Kursk.
The following day, the commander of a Russian military unit fighting in Kursk told TASS that Russian forces had captured a key supply route in the border region.
“But … their logistics have been almost completely destroyed,” he added, going on to assert that all routes into Plekhovo had been “completely secured.”
According to the commander, Plekhovo has been used by Ukraine to resupply its forces in the nearby town of Sudzha, an important energy transit hub, parts of which have been held by Ukrainian forces since August.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side.
About 18,500 square miles in size, Kursk shares a roughly 150-mile-long border with Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.
In the opening weeks of Kyiv’s offensive, Ukrainian forces succeeded in wresting effective control over broad swathes of Russian territory near the border.
Since then, Moscow has rushed reinforcements to the region, while Russian aircraft and artillery have continued to pound Ukrainian troop concentrations in the area.
Soon after Kyiv launched its offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation was aimed at capturing—and holding—Russian territory that might be used as a bargaining chip in future cease-fire talks with Moscow.
In 2022, Russia invaded—and effectively annexed—large swathes of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, which it now regards as Russian territory.
As articulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow’s main terms for ending the conflict include the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from all territories claimed by Russia, along with guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO.
Kyiv rejects these terms and has vowed to continue fighting numerically superior Russian forces until all lost territories are recovered.
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly pledged during his 2024 presidential campaign to end the war upon taking office in January 2025.
While it remains unclear how Trump plans to do so, Zelenskyy recently stated that making concessions to Russia was “unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for Europe.”