Ukrainian forces begin withdrawal from Russia’s Kursk region

There are significant developments in the Russia-Ukraine war. The Ukrainian army has started to withdraw from territories it had controlled in Russia’s Kursk region for over seven months.

Military analyst Yan Matveyev, Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) founder Ruslan Leviyev, and Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov reported that the Ukrainian army is withdrawing from the territories in the Kursk region.

While Russian war correspondents stated that Russian troops had taken control of the city of Sudzha, the center of Ukrainian forces under occupation, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the troops were advancing rapidly in the Kursk region occupied by Ukraine.

Yan Matveyev stated that the operation launched by Ukraine seven months ago has ended and that the Ukrainian army is withdrawing from the Kursk region.

Matveyev claimed, “Everything is clear; today the region will be completely liberated. It is also clear that the Ukrainians protected their main forces and were not defeated in the Kursk region,” and stated that the advance of the Russian army took place in the areas where the Ukrainian army withdrew.

Ruslan Leviyev also said on Dozhd broadcast, “The story in the Kursk region is nearing its end, and Ukrainian troops are withdrawing.”

According to Leviyev, all the areas in the Kursk region that came under the control of Russian troops were captured “almost without a fight.”

According to videos taken on March 11, Russian troops were located on the eastern outskirts of Sudzha. The head of CIT said, “In fact, we can say that the entire city of Sudzha has come under the control of Russian troops.”

Leviyev added that the Ukrainian army might try to hold the border villages for “a few more days.”

Forbes magazine also wrote that “a large part” of the Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the region. According to the report, the largest brigades of the Ukrainian army were withdrawn from the Kursk region and transferred to Ukrainian territory.

On the other hand, the Rybar Telegram channel wrote that Ukraine managed to withdraw its “most combat-capable and relatively valuable units” from the Kursk region.

According to the channel’s report, the airborne troops and special forces of the Ukrainian army are currently being transferred to the Donetsk region, Chasov Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Myrnohrad.

War correspondent Roman Alekhin published a video showing Ukrainian soldiers withdrawing towards the Sumy region.

On Wednesday morning, videos began to appear showing Russian troops in the center of Sudzha.

The RIA Novosti agency, citing the Sever units, reported that the clashes in Sudzha have not yet ended and that “Ukrainian soldiers are hiding in basements.”

On March 11 and 12, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that army units had liberated more than 100 square kilometers of area and 17 settlements (Agronom, Bogdanovka, Bondarevka, Zazulevka, Kazak Loknya, Zamostye, Mirny, etc.) in the Kursk region.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russian authorities are closely following the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk region and described the dynamics as “good.”

The rapid advance of Russian troops into the Ukrainian region in Kursk began after the US stopped its military aid to Ukraine and ceased providing intelligence.

According to data from the open-source intelligence (OSINT) project DeepState, in the week of March 2-9, the area under the control of the Ukrainian army in the region decreased from 407 square kilometers to 288.8 square kilometers.