Vladimir Putin has admitted that Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk is “very difficult” for Moscow right now, as Kyiv’s troops push further into Russia.
Analysts believe Ukraine has expanded its shock incursion by three miles this week, after launching a series of battalion-sized mechanised assaults in Kursk.
According to the think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), geolocated footage shows Ukrainian troops have moved forward significantly.
Putin has said very little about the Ukrainian troops on their land over the last six months, mainly just dismissing it – until now.
According to a transcript on the Kremlin website, Putin told the acting governor of Kursk, Alexander Khinshtein the situation in Kursk is “very difficult”.
He said: “It is exactly two months today since we met here last time, and I instructed you to organise work in the Kursk region. The situation there is very difficult.
“And the most important thing that I asked you to pay attention to was reaching out to people and identifying their concerns and problems. Indeed, there are many problems there.”
While Putin stopped short of explaining exactly why the region was struggling, Khinshtein referred to the “infrastructure destroyed by the enemy” and the Russian soldiers “heroically liberating our land”. Neither of them mentioned Ukraine.
Kyiv’s troops set up camp in a small part of Russia last August, two and a half years after Putin began his own invasion into Ukraine, in a bid to split Putin’s resources between offence and defence.
Ukraine’s occupation of Kursk is much less significant in terms of land mass than Russia’s occupation of a fifth of Ukraine’s territory – and Putin has paid it little attention, according to specialists.
The ISW’s report claims Moscow has just not prioritised the incursion.
“Putin has yet to prioritise expelling Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast over continuing his gradual advances in Donetsk Oblast [in Ukraine] and continues to drag out the liberation of Kursk’s border areas, despite domestic discontent,” the analysts said.
Meanwhile, the UK’s ministry of defence wrote in its latest update on X that Russia had also lost its personnel support from its ally North Korea.
It said: “North Korean united which had been deployed on offensive combat operations in Kursk Oblast have temporarily withdrawn from frontline positions, likely to rest and refit before redeploying.
“This is almost certainly primarily due to heavy losses sustained during attacks against Ukrainian-held positions.”
But the MoD noted that Moscow is still moving forward into Ukraine at a steady pace.
Russia took approximately 320 sq km of territory in January 2025, compared with 400 sq km in December last year.
Its advances along most of the frontline “have been relatively minor,” according to the MoD, although it did seize control of the Ukrainian stronghold Velyka Novosilka.
Russian advances also accelerated through 2024, with more than 700 sq km taken in November 2024.
