Russia claims it has regained full control of Kursk from Ukraine

Russia’s army says it has regained full control of the nation’s western Kursk area – a declare denied by Ukraine.

Prime Russian commander Valery Gerasimov stated the final village held by Ukrainian troops had now been recaptured – eight months after Kyiv’s shock incursion.

He additionally praised the “heroism” of North Korean troops throughout a Russian counter-offensive, in what’s the first time Russia has publicly acknowledged their involvement. Russian President Vladimir Putin described Ukraine’s efforts in Kursk as a whole failure.

Ukraine says its troops are nonetheless conducting operations within the Russian border area, with the army describing Moscow’s claims as “propaganda methods”.

Ukrainian forces have been in retreat in Kursk in latest months, dealing with 70,000 Russian troops and heavy drone assaults as half of Russia’s drive to regain the territory.

In its newest report on 25 April, the US-based Institute for the Research of Warfare (ISW) think-tank stated: “Russian forces not too long ago superior close to the worldwide border in Kursk Oblast [region] as half of efforts to push Ukrainian forces from their restricted remaining positions within the space.”

The ISW additionally reported that “combating continued in [Russia’s] north-western Belgorod Oblast [region] on 25 April”.

Throughout a video convention assembly with Putin on Saturday, Gerasimov stated: “Right now, the final settlement within the Kursk area, the village of Gornal, has been liberated from Ukrainian forces.”

Gerasimov stated greater than 76,000 Ukrainian troopers had been killed and wounded within the Kursk area – a declare not verified independently.

He additionally praised North Korean troops for offering “important help in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces”.

“The Kyiv regime’s journey has utterly failed,” Putin advised Gerasimov in response, claiming that it would pave the best way for additional Russian advances on different fronts.

Russia’s army says its troops now control a number of settlements in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy area, positioned subsequent to Kursk.

Responding in a publish on Telegram, the Ukrainian army’s normal workers stated the state of affairs on the battlefield was “troublesome” – however insisted its forces have been nonetheless holding positions in Kursk and have been persevering with an incursion within the Belgorod area, which lies instantly south of Kursk.

Ukraine’s incursion was launched final August as an try and create a buffer zone on the border between the 2 international locations that may forestall Russian forces from being deployed on Ukraine’s japanese entrance line.

It comes a day after US President Donald Trump stated Russia and Ukraine have been “very near a deal” on ending the warfare, following talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin this week.

However Trump on Saturday questioned Putin’s willingness to finish the warfare, referencing Russia’s assaults on Kyiv earlier this week which killed not less than 12 individuals and injured 90 others.

His feedback adopted a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral on the Vatican – their first face-to-face encounter since February’s acrimonious Oval Workplace showdown.

The White Home struck a extra constructive tone about Saturday’s assembly, whereas Zelensky described the sit down as a “very symbolic assembly that has potential to turn into historic, if we obtain joint outcomes”.

Ukraine’s chief advised the BBC on Friday that he was pushing for a “full and unconditional ceasefire” earlier than any deal was struck.

Kyiv has confronted rising stress from Trump to simply accept territorial concessions as half of any take care of Moscow to finish combating, which might reportedly embrace giving up the Crimean peninsula which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Zelensky has repeatedly rejected any such concessions.

Ukraine had hoped it might use the land it had seized within the Kursk area as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and presently controls round 20% of Ukraine’s internationally-recognised territory.