President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin both claimed that Ukrainian forces were surrounded. Ukraine’s top military commander vowed to “hold the line.”

Sudzha, with a reported population of about 5,000 people before the offensive, was the biggest town seized by Kyiv's forces last year as part of their surprise cross-border offensive. The Russian army,

Ukrainian forces are under intense pressure in Russia's Kursk region, where they grabbed a chunk of land last August and have held on to it through more than seven months of fierce fighting.