Russia claimed to retake a key town in the area from Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s top military commander has said that its forces would continue to “hold the line.”

Russian forces have seized Sudzha in the Kursk region and are engaged in combat with the Ukrainian Armed Forces in border villages of the Sumy region. The Russian army may attempt to create a buffer zone near the Russian-Ukrainian border,

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.