Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
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Ukraine's top general confirms no encirclement risk for troops in Kursk, despite Russian and North Korean forces' counteroffensive.
KYIV (Reuters) - Kyiv's top general said on Monday that Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia's Kursk region were not at risk of encirclement, despite a recent counteroffensive by Russian forces that has included North Korean troops.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, who said he was visiting the forces fighting in Kursk without specifying whether he had crossed into Russia, made the remark in a statement on social media in which he also said the situation was under control.
In the last few days, open source maps showed Russia piercing the frontline and carving out a narrow salient in the small piece of Russian territory that Ukraine occupied last year, partly as a possible bargaining chip in any future peace talks.
"A number of settlements on the border, the names of which appear in the reports of Russian propagandists, no longer actually exist - they have been destroyed by the aggressor's shelling," Syrskyi said.
"Despite the involvement of a significant number of Russian troops in the offensive, reinforced by North Korean infantry, the enemy is suffering significant losses in manpower and equipment," he added.
Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had recaptured three more settlements in the Kursk region.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Gareth Jones)
Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region are not at risk of encirclement, despite recent Russian counteroffensives.
Russia's defense ministry reported that its forces recaptured three more settlements in the Kursk region amid ongoing military actions.
Despite the significant number of Russian troops involved in the offensive, they are reportedly suffering substantial losses in both manpower and equipment.
Syrskyi noted that several settlements mentioned by Russian propagandists no longer exist, having been destroyed by aggressive shelling.
The Russian offensive is reportedly reinforced by North Korean infantry, contributing to the scale of the military actions in the area.
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