In the meantime, the situation in the Kursk region has become more complicated. The goal of cutting off the ZSU logistics is to reach the important Sumi-Sudzha highway and thereby shorten the width of the bridgehead of the Ukrainian forces, as their counter-actions plan.
What is happening in the Kursk region, what are the reasons for the deterioration of the situation and why the ZSU “buffer” is being absorbed – in the material of RBC-Ukraine below.
Contents
- Russians squeeze from different sides. What's happening in the Kursk region
- The failure of the Russian “operation”. How the enemy wants to create a fork through the gas pipe
- What caused the tense and critical situation in the Kursk region
In September 2024, the Ukrainian military managed to enter the territory of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation and establish control over some of its territory, including the place of Sudzha – the administrative regional center of the Sudan region.
As the military-political establishment of Ukraine explained, these operations are to bring the Russians to a just world and prevent the enemy from attacking the Sumy region, as they had planned.
During these months, the Russian military regained control over most of the territory. The Russians launched a counter-offensive after the month-long Kursk operation. Zokrem for counter-offensive actions was received from the region by thousands of Korean military forces.
The situation has become more complicated during the rest of this year. At the end of 2025, information began to emerge that the enemy’s army had somehow broken through the Ukrainian line of defense and had gained a foothold in the village of Novenka, Sumy region.
Russians squeeze from different sides. What's happening in the Kursk region
As Andriy Kovalenko explained to the Center for the Prevention of Disinformation, the idea of the Russian forecasters is wise – to try to enter the highway that goes from Yunakivka to Sudzha, or to interfere with the logistics of the Defense Forces Ukraine.
“Also, this idea was learned from afar, and it becomes possible to immediately inflict significant losses on the enemy’s assault groups. Fighting in the cordon and border zones will continue,” said Kovalenko.
As the Russian Telegram channel Mash writes about the so-called line of life – a single asphalt road between the Ukrainian Yunakivka and the Russian Sudzha, in order to simplify the delivery and logistics of the ZSU.
Map: the Sudzha-Yunakivka road under the angry influx of the enemy (Deepstate)
“The road Yunakivka – Sudzha is under the control of the enemy. Russian FPV drones fly every 5 weeks. The drones operate at new frequencies. Our artillery, drones with skids operate at 20% as much as possible. There is no way “bring up drones, ammunition,” writes “Suspilna” with a message to the military man who is responsible for the defense in Kursk region.
Dzherela RBC-Ukraine confirms this plan of the enemy and adds that the enemy wants to quickly sharpen the Ukrainian troops. At the same time, approaches are being taken to stabilize the situation and countermeasures are being planned.
Now the plan of the aggressor, as far as we know, is to cut the Sudzha-Sumi road and thus to quickly sharpen our troops.
7 February 2025, the Ukrainian project Deepstate has noted that the most critical situation is developing at the border of Kursk and Sumy regions, they are actively trying to test the grip of the enemy on the position of the Ukrainian military.
Analysts report that Russians are about to wake up in the Kursk region to the important route of Sumi-Sudzh immediately. This threatened the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops on Russian territory.
“A very important situation is developing in the area of Novyenkoy. The enemy is currently gathering in the village and is trying to rush to Basivka, behind which the road to the Sudzha checkpoint opens, by means of a physical cutoff of logistics, such as going from Yunakivka. The enemy crosses the road very hard and still overcomes its difficulties,” says Deepstate. 
Military expert Pavlo Narozhny, in a commentary for RBC-Ukraine, explains that the occupiers are in Novenkoe (Sumy region). And this settlement is located approximately 6-7 km from the small town of Yunakivka. The very same checkpoint is the longest road to go to the Kursk region.
“And at this rate, perhaps, a significant part, 70% of all supplies to the Kursk region is coming. This itself became the reason for the success of the Russians in the region,” says Narozhny.
There were no official statements from the General Staff about the presence of Russians in Novyokma. On the Deepstate map, the village is located in the “gray” zone. Today, the DPSU river officer Andriy Demchenko is broadcasting a telethon of hopes that the enemy is trying to create a zone of active combat operations in the Sumy region, continues to attack villages directly and tries to gain a foothold.
In his words, small assault groups of the Russian Federation military will go on the attack. The enemy is entering Ukrainian territory literally a handful of people at a time. Then the stench accumulates and storms. The main objective of the goal is to cut logistics routes.
The activation of the enemy will also take place on the right flank of the Kursk Group of Defense Forces, in the area of the village of Kurylivka to the sovereign cordon of Sumshchyna. The goal is the same – to achieve advanced control of logistics, analysts say.
Recently, the American Institute for the Study of War reported that the Russians have seized the early entry of the ZSU in the Kursk region and are protruding in the Sudzhi area. Movlyav, the Russian Federation troops took control:
- Nova Sorochyna (18 km on a daytime approach from Sudzhi);
- Malu Loknya (15 km right next to Sudzhi);
- Lebedivka (9 km away from Sudzhi), as well as fields between settlements.
Looking at the Deepstate data, Martinivka is also included in this list. At the same time, ISW, based on geolocated footage, reports that the Russian army has approached the 5 km distance to the south of Sudzha Kozachoya Lokna.
Similar large-scale assault operations on the side of the Russian military took place on the direct route from the village of Korenevo to Sudzha, as well as on the Novoivanovka direct line.
According to the information provided by RBC-Ukraine, the width of the Ukrainian bridgehead in the Kursk region has now shortened to 11 kilometers. Conducting defense and combat operations there is complicated by forestry and the massive deployment of drones on fiber optics.
However, as the spyers explain, the situation is not yet catastrophic and the withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops there is not significant.
The failure of the Russian “operation”. How the enemy wants to create a fork through the gas pipe
According to recent data, the Russian troops tried to penetrate deep into the territory occupied by the ZSU through the Urengoy-Pomari-Uzhgorod gas pipeline (they do not pay for 1 day).
ZSU officer Miroslav Gai wrote on his Facebook page that the Ukrainian paratroopers knew about the enemy’s plans, and they played to the advantage and organized an ambush for the Russians. So, at the critical moment the gas pipeline exit from the pipe was blocked, which made it difficult for the enemy group to evacuate. In this manner, it was possible to liquidate 80% of the enemy’s special stock.
The failed operation of the Russians was later reported on the website of the Airborne Assault Forces ZSU. Ukrainian soldiers confirmed the weakness of the Russian military forces, who were moving along the Galts gas pipeline in the direction of Sudzhi with the aim of gaining a foothold on the outskirts of the place.
“Enemy forces were immediately detected by aerial reconnaissance units of the Airborne Assault Forces of the ZSU. The enemy's manpower was hit by missiles and artillery strikes, and unmanned systems of various types were stagnated. At this time The forces of Russian special forces are being detected, blocked and diminished. The enemy’s losses in the Sudzhi area are even greater,” says the DShV statement.
At Merezha they write that the enclosure thrown by the Russians is trying to make a fork through the gas pipe, becoming close to 100 osib. However, this information will require confirmation.
What caused the tense and critical situation in the Kursk region
Ukrainian soldiers, who spoke with New York Times journalists on Friday and Saturday, said that the presence of intelligence from the United States is especially problematic for their fighters in the Kursk region, splinters there The Russian and Korean armies are advancing and quickly pushing forward.
A senior US military official confirmed to newspapers that it has become easier for Ukrainian troops to attack Russian forces in the area through a wealth of intelligence from the US.
ISW analysts also pointed out that this period was marked by an increased presence of Russian forces in the region. Analysts also admit that the slowdown in the exchange of data from the US side became a significant factor, which complicated the work of the ZSU on Kursk directly.
The British newspaper The Telegraph recently writes that “ten thousand Ukrainian military forces are under threat after the Russian army broke through the front line and advanced on the key line after two directly.” Journalists are aware that ZSU in the Kursk region is under the threat of exile through a US ban on intelligence.
Military expert Pavlo Narozhny notes that the Kursk region of the Russian Federation is now trying to speed up the “age of opportunities,” but there is no longer a slowdown in the exchange of intelligence between the United States and Ukraine, but after a pause in the ongoing military assistance to Kiev from the side of Washington.
“We are talking about ammunition and everything else that (USA – ed.) stopped supplying. And in every world that played a role,” says Narozhny in a commentary for RBC-Ukraine.
The expert notes that, in general, the Russian military is following standard tactics. The enemy frontally in the Kursk region managed to “defeat” half of its territory. However, the main problem is that the goal is to approach the line of supply of the ZSU and significantly complicate the supply of the Ukrainian grouping.
While the Russian troops were advancing in the Kursk region, information appeared on the monitoring channels that, after the military interruption, the activity of a long-range radar flight had been recorded detection (DRLV) A-50 in the vast expanse of the Russian Federation. In the middle they began to tie up with the so-called preparation of the aggressor before a new massive shelling. Narozhny to throw in any other direction of the enemy. 
“The Russians have launched the A-50 in the air. And with great internationality, they are focusing on the Kursk region. It may be that our aviation is actively targeting Kursk region and there in the border area. So and ground targets, it may be possible to fly at a distance of 500-700 km and other targets, as well as ground targets here 300 km. Axis all i The main reason why the situation in the Kursk region is so bad now,” the expert explains.
Submittedly, the spyvrozmovnik sings that the situation in the Kursk region is not critical.
“The Russians are now launching drones on Yunakivka from Novenky at this point, where they can “drop in” with a mortar. So the cost of food is like for us from this Novenky, because of the truth, as it turns out, knock down the enemy. And once we stop the flow of Russians onto this road, the situation will normalize. I think it’s time,” Narozhny says.
It is expected that the ZSU can and will eventually gain a position in the Kursk region, since this is even more important for Ukraine.
“This is a buffer zone for the Sumy region and the extraction of Russian resources from the Kharkov region. So the Russians cannot launch an attack on Sumi and Kharkov while we have this buffer zone in the Kursk region,” the expert adds.
It seems likely that previously President Volodymyr Zelensky did not exclude that as soon as negotiations with Russia began, Kiev could propose a direct exchange of territories to Moscow. And the Kursk region itself in exchange for Ukrainian territories. However, he did not specify what.
The head of the Ukrainian state also admitted that the Kursk operation plays a role in the hour of negotiations to end the war, which is urged by the American President Donald Trump, advocating “not putting the fire out of sight.
During the preparation of the material, the following were used: statements from the CPD chief Andriy Kovalenko, cards from the American Institute of Warfare (ISW), maps DeepState, Telegram channel “Agency”, Telegram channel Mash, “Suspilne”, statements from a river worker DPSU Andriya Demchenko, Facebook page of ZSU officer Miroslava Gai, Facebook page of the Airborne Assault Forces of the ZSU, New York Times, The Telegraph, as well as an exclusive commentary by expert Pavel Narozhny for RBC-Ukraine.
Read terminology and important information about the war between Russia and Ukraine on the RBC-Ukraine channel on Telegram.