The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday that it has taken control of Sudzha, the largest city in the Kursk region, which has been under the control of Ukrainian forces since the surprise cross-border offensive in August 2024.
PUBLICIDAD
The claim could not be independently verified and Ukrainian officials did not comment at the time.
PUBLICIDAD
The announcement was made as Russian troops approach their goal of ousting Ukrainian troops from their last stronghold in the Kursk region and hours before Putin said that, in principle, he would agree to the United States' proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war.
“So the idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin said in a press conference in Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I believe we should talk about this with our American colleagues and partners.”
Visit of Vladimir Putin to Kursk
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the military headquarters in the region on Wednesday and spoke with the military commanders there.
The renewed military push by Russia and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops unfolded as Trump seeks a diplomatic end to the war, which has now been going on for three years.
Speaking with the commanders on Wednesday, Putin said he hoped the army would “completely liberate the Kursk region from the enemy in the near future.”
Dressed in military uniform, Putin added that “it is necessary to consider creating a security zone along the state border,” in a sign that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of the neighboring Sumy region of Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War, a group of experts based in Washington, evaluated late on Wednesday that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha, a city near the border that previously housed around 5,000 people.
Ukraine’s chief military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated that Russian planes had carried out an unprecedented number of attacks in Kursk and, as a result, Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement.