The Ukrainian forces were almost completely drawn out of Russia’s Kursk region and ended the attack last summer, which surprised the Kremlin with its speed and boldness.
As Russian forces stormed their lines and forced them to land along the border, Ukrainian soldiers in front described the hideout organized in the location and confused to others.
By the time the Ukrainian attack platoon retreated from its position a week ago, all the vehicles had been destroyed, and the drones were hunting day and night, almost completely out of ammunition.
The Russian army was closed from all directions, the platoon commander said, “it urged us to retreat.”
The commander asked to be identified only by call signs, saying that Boroda took more than 12 miles to hike from a location near Kazacharoknya in a Russian village, in line with military protocols, to the Ukrainian border. By then, “the area where we were in our position was already occupied by the Russian army,” he said when he contacted me by phone.
At the height of the attack, Ukrainian forces ruled about 500 square miles of Russian territory. By Sunday, they had been clung to just 30 square miles along the Russian-Ukraine border, according to Pasi Paroynen, a military analyst with Finland-based Blackbird Group.
“The end of the fight is coming,” Paroynen said in a phone interview.
It was not independently confirmed how much control Russian territory still existed in Kursk, and soldiers reported that fierce battles were underway. However, the battle near the border is not about holding Russian lands now, but about trying to prevent Russian troops from flowing into the Smie region of Ukraine and open new fronts in the war.
Soldiers said they were trying to set up a strong defensive position along the Ridgeline on the Russian side of the border.
“We continue to hold our position in the front of Kursk,” said Boroda, commander of the attacking platoon. “The only difference is that our position has shifted significantly to the border.”
Andrii, a Ukrainian intelligence agent fighting in Kursk, said it more frankly: “Operation Kursk is essentially over,” he said. “Now we need to stabilize the situation.”
Kursk’s operation, deemed unnecessary gambling by some analysts, led to serious injuries when they were already struggling to protect their country’s long frontlines, stretching out the Ukrainian army. However, it provided a much-needed morale boost to Ukraine. Ukraine showed that it could bring war back to Russia, and hoped that the territory it occupied there would serve as leverage for ceasefire negotiations.
Kiev was able to stop Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine, but Kursk’s transformation occurs as the Trump administration pushes for a quick ceasefire.
The reversal of Ukrainian property in Kursk was not a factor. The Russians began to slam the supply lines in Ukraine and cut off escape routes. The North Korean forces brought in by Moscow were initially moving around, but improved their combat capabilities. And at a critical moment, US support, including intelligence sharing, was put on hold.
How the tide has changed
When the New York Times last visited the Smee-Kursk border in late January, the sky was filled with Russian drones, making daytime movement almost impossible.
The main road from Smie to Skaja was a small Russian town about six miles northeast that had been occupied by Ukrainian forces since August, and was already littered with burnt-out cars, tanks and armored cars.
Ukraine sent some of its most experienced brigades into Operation Kursk, but months of unfortunate attacks by the Russians and thousands of North Korean troops fighting alongside them were at a cost.
North Korean forces retreated from the battlefield in January and reorganized, but returned to battle in early February. And Ukrainian soldiers said their combat skills had improved.
“Many of them performed very clever tactical operations,” said platoon commander Boroda.
By mid-February, Russian troops were able to advance within five miles of Ukraine’s main supply routes and target the roads with a pack of drones.
Other Ukrainian soldiers who liked Boroda asked to be identified only by their first name or call sign according to military protocols, and described the Russian army that used attack drones in ambush.
“Their drones will land near the main supply route and wait for the target to pass,” said Cap, a 36-year-old special operations force fighter, asking them to be identified by call sign.
Russian drones were also hitting explosives pre-located to destroy the Kursk bridge.
Russian fighters also attacked the bridge, according to Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts.
Artem, senior commander of the Ukrainian Brigade, said the destruction of the bridge was one of the main reasons why Kiev’s army had to suddenly abandon its position in recent weeks. Not everyone made it, but most did, he said.
Russia’s groundbreaking moment
Ukraine’s retention in Kursk was already at risk when the Trump administration announced on March 3rd it would suspend military aid and sharing intelligence news.
The loss of the American Intelligence Report for accurate targeting exacerbated the difficulties, according to Intelligence Report Andri. Without it, he and other soldiers said multiple American-made rocket launchers known as Himah would be silent.
“We couldn’t allow ourselves to fire expensive missiles on the wrong target,” Andri explained.
Then on March 8, Russian forces made a breakthrough and creeped up the Ukrainian border by walking miles through unused gas pipelines to host a surprising attack. Russian propagandists and officials cast the operation as a heroic feat, calling it a dangerous move that Ukrainian sources claimed to have led to many deaths caused by the pipeline’s remaining methane.
The exact number of Russian troops involved and the success of the attack “it caused enough chaos and chaos behind the Ukrainian line, where they are likely to begin retreating,” said Paroinen of Black Bird Group, who analyzes satellite imagery and social media content from the battlefield.
The Russians “were out of us a bit,” Andri said. “I was a bit panic.”
At about the same time, North Korean forces led an attack that broke through the Ukrainian line south of the small village of Kyrivka, further constraining their ability to supply Kiev’s troops.
As Ukrainian forces retreated along the designated line of defence, the Russians continued to push towards Sudasuha, increasing the pace of their attack.
Given Russia’s position, vehicle evacuation would have given the drones a simple target, analysts said. The destroyed military vehicles scattered across the road also created obstacles to retreat, according to military analyst and former Ukrainian Army Colonel Serhii Hrabskyi.
Some Ukrainian soldiers burned their equipment to prevent them from falling into Russian hands before hiking, the soldiers said.
On March 10, orders were issued for several units to withdraw from Sudzha, said three Ukrainian soldiers and commander.
“It was an organized, chaotic, hidden mix,” Boroda said. “A variety of factors influenced the nature of the withdrawal: fatigue, orders of good and evil from individual commanders, misunderstandings or well-established adjustments.”
But despite the oppositional claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, Kiev’s army was not surrounded, according to military analysts who used combat analysts to map the development of combat fields, Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk, and even prominent Russian military bloggers.
Three days later, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it had regained full control of Ska. On Saturday, the army claimed it had taken two villages outside the town.
Ukrainian military general staff have not dealt directly with the capture of Russia’s Suda, but on Sunday released a map of the battlefield showing towns outside Kursk’s territory.
Sudzha, once home to 5,000 people, suffered great damage in the battle. And since Kursk’s operation began, military analysts say both sides have suffered huge losses.
The fear of a new front
Kiev wanted to use Russian land control as a leverage for negotiations to end the war, but now it appears Putin is trying to use a Ukrainian retreat to intensify talks with the Trump administration about suspending hostilities.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymia Zelensky accused Russian troops of smuggling them into nearby Smie areas and trying to cut off and lock them up in Kursk. The claims could not be verified independently.
Now, Ukrainian soldiers say they are determined to stop the Russians from pushing towards Smee.
Oksana Pinchukova, a 44-year-old volunteer who lives in Sumy, said he was worried about what will happen in the coming weeks.
“We live under constant strikes and gunfire. Not everyone can handle it,” she said.
Reports were provided by Yurii Shyvala, Liubov Sholudko, Maria Varenikova and Constant Méheut.
