Zelensky: Ukrainian forces capture Russian town of Sudzha as Kyiv advances
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Thursday that Ukrainian forces have taken control of the Russian town of Sudzha, more than a week after launching a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Kyiv’s troops have been present in the town, located 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Kursk, since last Wednesday, but this marks the first confirmation from Zelensky that his forces have fully captured it.
Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukrainian forces have advanced 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) through Russian defenses since the start of their surprise assault, securing 1,150 square kilometers of territory and capturing 82 settlements.
Syrskyi added that a military commandant’s office has been established in Sudzha “to maintain law and order and address the immediate needs of the population in the controlled territories.”
Sudzha is strategically located next to a Russian gas terminal, a critical point for supplying gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine. This has led to speculation that Kyiv’s objective might include disrupting a lucrative source of revenue for Moscow.
Kyiv’s troops have been present in the town, located 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Kursk, since last Wednesday, but this marks the first confirmation from Zelensky that his forces have fully captured it.
Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukrainian forces have advanced 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) through Russian defenses since the start of their surprise assault, securing 1,150 square kilometers of territory and capturing 82 settlements.
Syrskyi added that a military commandant’s office has been established in Sudzha “to maintain law and order and address the immediate needs of the population in the controlled territories.”
Sudzha is strategically located next to a Russian gas terminal, a critical point for supplying gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine. This has led to speculation that Kyiv’s objective might include disrupting a lucrative source of revenue for Moscow.
Ukraine’s ground incursion has displaced tens of thousands of Russians and put Russia on the defensive as it struggles to repel Kyiv’s advancing forces.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian drones targeted four Russian airfields in the largest such attack of the war. A Ukrainian security source told CNN that the attack focused on four bases in the southwestern regions of Kursk and Voronezh, as well as Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have destroyed 117 “aircraft-type” drones and four tactical missiles over Kursk and neighboring regions.
Ukraine’s assault, a significant embarrassment for the Kremlin, marks a shift in tactics, representing the first time foreign troops have entered Russian territory since World War II.
Meanwhile, Russia has pulled reserves from key battlegrounds in Ukraine and Russian-occupied Crimea to counter Kyiv’s advances, according to a Ukrainian military official.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on Thursday that it had recaptured the first village from Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region—Krupets.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “kick the enemy out” of Russia after reports emerged that dozens of Russian villages were under Ukrainian control.
While Ukraine continues to press its offensive, intense fighting persists along the eastern front, where Russian forces have been making gradual gains for months. On Thursday, Ukraine reported the heaviest fighting in weeks near the eastern city of Pokrovsk. Serhii Dobriak, head of the Pokrovsk city military administration, warned on Telegram that the enemy was “almost right up close to our community” and just over 6 miles (10 km) from the city.
Dobriak urged all citizens to “evacuate without delay.”
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