Ukraine held an estimated 514 square miles of Russian territory at its high point on Aug. 24, 2024, but as of March 12, Russian forces had retaken slightly more than 70%.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Ukrainian forces invaded as Russian and North Korean forces accelerated an advance in the region.

Russian forces claim to have pulled off an audacious operation, using a subterranean pipeline to sneak past Ukrainian defenses. The reported operation coincided with a full-on Kremlin effort to push Kyiv’s forces out of Russia’s Kursk region,

Ukrainian forces are under intense pressure in Russia's Kursk region, where they grabbed a chunk of land last August and have held on to it through more than seven months of fierce fighting.

Russian forces have recaptured Sudzha, the largest town that Ukraine once occupied in the Kursk region, according to Moscow, threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining chip amid pressure to negotiate an end to the war.