More than 200 people were evacuated from Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region as Moscow carries out an intense aerial campaign to reclaim the area from Ukraine.
Russia announced on Friday that its forces had recaptured another settlement in the Kursk region previously held by Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry specified in a statement that it had reclaimed the settlement of Goncharovka, in addition to 28 other settlements in western Kursk over the past week.
Russian state media released a video on Friday showing drone footage from Sudzha to support their recapture claims.
Sudzha, with a reported population of about 5,000 people before the offensive, was the biggest town seized by Ukrainian forces last year as part of their surprise cross-border offensive.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Thursday that Russian aircraft conducted so many strikes on Kursk, adding that Sudzha was almost completely destroyed. Kyiv says it was able to successfully repel close to two-dozen Russian attacks in the region.
He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement, but says Ukraine was “manoeuvring troops to more advantageous” positions.
The Kremlin says that Ukrainian forces suffered major losses in military assets in their counteroffensive. A spokesperson for the defence ministry note that more than 260 Ukrainian troops were killed in Russian operations.
Additionally, five armoured personnel carriers, two combat armoured vehicles, four artillery pieces, two mortars and three UAV control points on the frontlines in Kursk were destroyed.
More than 200 civilians were evacuated from their homes in Sudzha during the Russian offensive. The Kremlin says evacuees were moved into temporary shelters until the settlement is deemed safe for civilians.
