Russia says it makes big new gains in bid to drive Ukraine out of Kursk

By Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Tuesday that its troops had made major new gains in its western region of Kursk, accelerating their push to drive out Ukrainian forces who have been clinging on to a slice of Russian territory since last August.

The defence ministry said Russia had recaptured a dozen settlements and more than 100 square km (38.6 square miles) of territory in its latest thrust, which follows a sharp worsening of Ukraine's position in the past few days.

Yuri Podolyaka, a pro-Moscow military blogger whose Telegram channel has more than 3 million followers, reported that Russian forces had taken control of the outskirts of the town of Sudzha, near the border with Ukraine, and Ukrainian troops were pulling back into their own territory.

Losing its hard-won foothold in Kursk would deal a major blow to Ukraine at a critical moment, as U.S. President Donald Trump piles heavy pressure on Kyiv to agree to end the war quickly.

Ukraine's shock seizure of a chunk of Russian land last August - the first invasion of Russian soil since Nazi Germany attacked in 1941 - provided its forces with a huge morale boost at the time and dealt an embarrassing blow to President Vladimir Putin and his commanders. Kyiv had hoped to use Kursk as a bargaining chip to get back some of its own captured territory.

Reuters could not independently confirm the latest battlefield accounts because of reporting restrictions at the frontlines.

Ukraine's top general on Monday denied that Ukrainian troops fighting in Kursk were at risk of encirclement. General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the situation was under control, but indicated that Ukrainian forces have been pulling back.

"The units are taking timely measures to manoeuvre to advantageous positions for defence," he said.

SURPRISE INCURSION

Ukrainian troops seized at least 1,300 sq km (500 square miles) of the Kursk region in August, bursting across the border in one of the biggest surprises of the war. In late October, North Korean troops began arriving to join the fighting on Russia's side.

By mid-February, Russia had taken back at least 800 sq km (300 sq miles) of territory in Kursk. In recent days it launched a major paratrooper offensive from multiple directions that threatens to cut off Ukraine's supply lines and potential routes of withdrawal.

Russian advances in Kursk and inside Ukraine, combined with Trump's upending of U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, have raised fears among European leaders that Ukraine will lose the war and that Trump is turning his back on Europe.

Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest drone attack yet on Moscow and the surrounding region, and top Ukrainian diplomats were meeting their U.S. counterparts in Saudi Arabia to discuss a path towards ending the war.

Trump last week suspended military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, but its position in Kursk was already deteriorating as of late February.

Russian special forces crept for miles through a gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha at the weekend in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)