The key facts

  • Solodchuk: Ukrainian forces spent more than a month without supplies or evacuation, then left the region
  • At first the Ukrainian units were left with a single route through Sudzha, then it was cut as well
  • The operation to liberate the region was completed on April 26, 2025; later breakout attempts were thwarted

Statement on the loss of supplies

Chief of Logistics of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Valery Solodchuk, speaking on the Zvezda TV channel, gave details of the Ukrainian troops' withdrawal from Kursk region. According to him, the Russian army systematically disrupted the Ukrainian Armed Forces' logistics: first the enemy was left with a single supply route through Sudzha, and then that route was cut as well. 'The enemy spent more than a month without water, without food, without ammunition, without evacuation, and in the end they popped out of Kursk region like a cork,' Gazeta.Ru quotes the general as saying. Solodchuk emphasized that the outcome of combat operations largely depends on how the rear is organized, and called the actions of Russian troops during the incursion 'a very good lesson' for the Ukrainian army.

Timeline of events in the region

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion into Kursk region began early in the morning on August 6, 2024. Russian troops halted the enemy's advance and pushed it out of the region. Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin on April 26, 2025 that the operation to liberate the region had been completed. After that, as Life.ru notes, the Ukrainian side made several attempts to break back into the region — all of them were thwarted. One of them took place in May 2025: about 250 Ukrainian fighters, supported by more than 15 pieces of heavy equipment and quad bikes, attempted to attack the settlement of Tetkino.

Additional data

Life.ru cites figures from the Russian Defense Ministry: during the fighting in the Kursk direction, the Ukrainian army's losses exceeded 76,500 servicemen. The outlet also recalls that two servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade — Sergei Vygovsky and Vyacheslav Borisenko — were sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking part in the incursion into Kursk region; they were found guilty of committing an act of terrorism. Solodchuk's statement is an assessment from one side of the conflict, made more than a year and a half after the operation ended; the published figures have not been independently verified.