Ukraine Still Holds Ground in Russia’s Kursk, Syrsky Says

Kyiv troops still hold around 90 square kilometers (37.8 square miles) in Russia’s Kursk region, according to Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky on Sunday. 

At a local press conference, Syrsky said Ukrainian troops are still present in the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region.

“The Ukrainian army controls about 90 square kilometers of the territory of the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, and these are our preemptive actions in response to a possible enemy offensive,” Syrsky said, according to Ukrinform.

Syrsky’s latest statement countered Moscow’s claim in April that the operation to purge Kyiv troops in the region “has been completed,” as reported by Russian state media TASS at the time. 

Syrsky added that Ukrainian troops’ presence in the region in April had prevented Moscow from transferring troops to other sectors. 

“In April 2025, Russian units – and this, I remind you once again, is about 60,000 people (including two airborne assault divisions, airborne assault brigades, marine brigades) – were tasked with moving to new areas of combat operations and replenishing the offensive groups of the Russian army in the Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Lyman, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson sectors, and thereby increasing the pace of the enemy offensive,” Syrsky said. 

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“But our active actions in the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation thwarted these plans,” he added. 

Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024, capturing more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of territory at the peak of the operation.

But Russian troops have regained control over the majority of the region in recent months, in part thanks to the troop reinforcements from North Korea. 

Despite setbacks in the Kursk region, Syrsky nonetheless said in May that the objective of the incursion, namely to “prevent an offensive campaign by the enemy in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions,” has been achieved.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia lost more than 63.000 soldiers in the Kursk region in a May social media update.