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,

Kostенко explained that Ukraine's position in Kursk Oblast had always been difficult, becoming even more so months after Ukrainian forces initially captured parts of the territory. Roman Kostensko Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security,

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.

Analyst David Axe described the situation of Ukrainian armed forces in the Kursk region on the Forbes portal. According to his calculations, they may have lost about 500 vehicles and artillery pieces there.