MOSCOW: Russia has recaptured 64 percent of the territory captured by Ukraine in the Kursk border region since Kyiv’s offensive there last summer, a senior Russian military leader said Thursday.
The Russian army rarely gives figures on the amount of territory taken by Ukraine in Kursk, which spans nearly 30,000 square kilometres.
“More than 800 square kilometres (309 square miles) have been liberated, which amounts to about 64 percent of the territory initially occupied” by Ukraine, Sergei Rudskoi, first deputy head of Russia’s General Staff, told the Krasnaya Zvezda military newspaper.
Based on Rudskoi’s statements, Ukraine still controls more than 400 square kilometres in Kursk.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said last week Kyiv controlled around 500 square kilometres in Kursk, territory it sees as an important bargaining chip in any talks on ending the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday his troops had crossed the border into Ukraine overnight, in what state media reported was an offensive from the Kursk region. Ukraine rejected this as a “lie”.
“Currently the initiative in the Kursk region is fully on our side. Russian forces are advancing in all directions,” Rudskoi said.
He added that in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Russia had taken “around 75 percent of the territory” and in the eastern Lugansk region, Ukraine controls “less than one percent”.
Months after launching its full-scale offensive on February 24, 2022, Moscow announced the annexation of all these four regions, despite not fully controlling any of them.
In 2024, Rudskoi said Russia took “almost 4,500 square kilometres of territory” in Ukraine, calling this a “breakthrough” year.
Since the start of 2025, Russia has taken “over 600 square kilometres more”, he added.
“The Kyiv regime will not be able to significantly change the situation on the battlefield any more,” Rudskoi added.
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