Ukraine conceded Thursday that it was holding barely a third of the territory in Russia’s western Kursk region that it initially captured during a shock offensive last year — land Kyiv hopes it can exchange with Russia.
“Today we have our own security zone on the territory of the Russian Federation, along the border of Ukraine, holding around 500 square kilometres (190 square miles),” Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky wrote on social media — down from previous claims that it controlled almost 1,400 square kilometres.