Pressure has mounted on Ukraine in recent weeks to make a decision on whether to pull out of the Kursk region.
Moscow’s forces have taken one of the last remaining villages in the border region of Kursk, the Russian defense ministry claimed on Saturday.
“Units of the North military group have liberated the village of Oleshnya in the Kursk region during active offensive operations,” the ministry wrote on its Telegram account.
State-owned Russian news agency TASS reported the ministry as saying that Ukraine has lost more than 75,000 servicemen in fighting in the Kursk region.
The claims were not immediately verifiable. POLITICO has approached the Ukrainian defense ministry for confirmation.
Ukrainian forces last year carried out a daring and unexpected offensive into the Kursk region. That decision was controversial even within Ukraine, though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted the incursion has been a success, and has hinted that Ukraine’s continued control of Russian territory could give Kyiv leverage in any peace negotiations with Moscow.
Despite clinging on for months in Kursk, however, the Russian counteroffensive has recently hit Ukrainian forces hard. Military analysts warned last month that Ukrainian commanders would soon have to decide whether to pull out of the region.
The capture of Oleshnya leaves only the village of Gornal remaining under Ukrainian control, according to Agence France-Presse. TASS, citing “security forces,” said Gornal is the final remaining settlement for Russia to take for the Kursk region to be entirely back under its control.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. is prepared to recognize Russian control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, citing people familiar with the matter. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he will not cede territory to Moscow.
United States President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to abandon peace talks if no progress is shown in the negotiations.
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Russia claims to take penultimate village in Kursk – politico.eu
