The Armed Forces retreat and use the area on the border with the Russian Federation to protect the Sumy region - the media

In the midst of the offensive, the Ukrainian forces controlled about 1300 square km of Russian territory. By Sunday, the Armed Forces control the narrow strip of land along the Russian-Ukrainian border, which covers about 77 square km according to the Finnish analyst Passi Passi Passa. "The end of the battle is close," Paraininen said. The size of the Russian territory, which is still under the control of Ukraine, cannot be independently confirmed, and soldiers report cruel fights in the area.

But it is emphasized that Ukrainian troops retreated from several villages in the Kursk region, as well as from Sudzhi, the main city under their control over the last week. The Ukrainian Military Command said the troops retreated to a more protected territory inside Russia along the border, using hilly terrain for better fire control over Russian forces that are approaching.

On Sunday, it published a map of the battlefield, which shows the land in the Kursk region, which Ukraine is still in control. However, it is unclear how long Ukrainian troops will be able to keep this site. The fighting in Kursk is now aimed not so much to the maintenance of the Russian territory as to control the most favorable defense positions, to prevent the promotion of Russians in the Sumy region of Ukraine and the opening of a new front of war, Ukrainian soldiers said.

"We continue to hold positions on the Kursk Front. The only difference is that our positions have shifted much closer to the border," said the commander of the assault platoon, who asked not to be named. Although the retreat of the Ukrainian troops from most Kursk region was fast, military experts claim that it happened after the months of Russian attacks and bombardment, which steadily undermined Ukraine's positions in the area and cut its ways of supply, which ultimately forced it to retreat.

"What happened in the last few months was a preparatory operation that created the conditions for a successful offensive," said Franz-Shtefan Gady, Austrian military analyst who visited the Sumy region of Ukraine at the border with Kursk last month to talk to Ukrainian commanders.

Serhiy Kuzan, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, Non -Governmental Research Group, notes that there were no threats to the environment of the Ukrainian troops, and there is no evidence that would point to the opposite.

It should be reminded that the General Staff of the Armed Forces in the summary of the operational summary for March 16 published a map of hostilities in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, which testifies to the complete departure of Ukrainian troops from the settlement of Sudzh. Kiev hoped to use its control over Russian territory in Kursk as a lever in any negotiations on the termination of the war. Ukraine agreed to support the US supported 30-day ceasefire if Russia did the same.