Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized roughly 1,300 square kilometers of Russia's western Kursk region in August.

Kyiv later characterized the move as an attempt to gain a bargaining chip for future negotiations and draw Russian troops away from the front line in eastern Ukraine.

But seven months on, Ukraine is rapidly losing ground there to Russian forces backed by allied North Korean troops.

There is a feeling that the Ukrainian armed forces are generally ready to leave the Kursk region, Yan Matveyev, an independent military analyst, told RFE/RL.

Map: Territory lost by Ukraine in Kursk region since September 10, 2024 (March 10, 2025)

Ukraines hold on territory in Kursk is more tenuous than at any other point since August, experts said.

Kyiv still controls most of Sudzha, the local district capital, and other settlements. But reports suggest that Russian forces have broken through the defensive lines north of the town in recent days.

According to reports, Russian soldiers crept through a disused underground gas pipeline to covertly penetrate Ukrainian positions in Sudzha.

Image Sequence Slider - Kursk salient, February 24 - March 9, 2025

Russia has also advanced in multiple areas in Ukraine along the border in recent days.

Reports say Russian troops have captured the Ukrainian village of Novenke and cut off Sudzha from the Ukrainian-controlled Russian village of Guyevo.

These advances have put Russian forces within five kilometers of Ukraines N07 highway, the main road used for logistics, allowing them to severely complicate the movement of Ukrainian troops and hardware.

The enemy is trying to cut the main supply routes... the current weather hinders the creation of secondary supply routes -- it's muddy and cars get stuck in all the mud, Anton Serbin, commander of the Ukrainian 104th Territorial Defense brigades drone group, told RFE/RL.

Matveyev, the military analyst, said Ukrainian forces have problems with logistics after they lost control of some routes and roads connecting them with supplies, and they have been under intensified drone attacks in recent weeks."