Russian forces are scrambling to build on their rapid advance in retaking areas of the Kursk region, claiming control of the town of Sudzha on March 12, and President Vladimir Putin has met with commanders, urging them to push on.
“Their goal is to cross our border and move as deep as they can to gain a foothold on our territory, expanding the zone of active combat,” Andriy Demchenko, a spokesperson for the Ukraine Border Guard Service told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
Meanwhile, with Russia seemingly tentatively agreeing to a cease-fire proposal pushed by the United States and Ukraine, areas of Kursk seized by Ukrainian forces last summer have shrunk to a fraction of what they were months ago, according to the Deep State mapping organization.
However, the capture of Sudzha by Russian forces would be a Pyrrhic victory, according to Ukrainian military analyst Oleksiy Yizhak.
“Sudzha has been destroyed,” he said. “It no longer exists, like many Ukrainian settlements captured by Russia. There's actually very little left to capture. That’s what’s happening in the Kursk region.”
Yizhak added that Russia has found itself controlling piles of rubble regularly in its war on Ukraine.
“Russia is ruining the settlements where Ukrainian troops were deployed. You can say that they don't exist anymore, and that's why Russia controls them.”
Russian drone attacks continue to hit several Ukrainian cities, including Sumy, not far from the Kursk area border, along with Kyiv, Odesa, and Kryviy Rih.
Ukraine has also continued airstrikes, hitting Moscow on March 11 with the heaviest drone strike the city has seen since the start of the war on Ukraine in 2022. Three were killed and the Russian capital's four airports were shut down, Russian officials said.
A total of 343 drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over the Moscow region, they said.
U.S. officials were seeking the Kremlin's response on March 13 to the proposed 30-day cease-fire agreed to in a meeting in Saudi Arabian between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a delegation representing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russian officials have said they are interested only in a comprehensive peace deal, not a temporary cease-fire.
Kursk regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said more than 120 people have been evacuated from Sudzha.
