Since the new push in Russia’s Kursk Oblast in early January, Ukraine has made small gains and managed to capture the first North Korean prisoners of war in the area but experts have raised concerns about Kyiv’s use of limited resources while fierce battles rage elsewhere.

Both Russia and Ukraine suffer heavy casualties in the battles in Kursk, with questions about their abilities to sustain the war.

Ukraine launched a daring offensive into Russia's Kursk region, hoping to stretch Russia's resources and gain a new bargaining chip.

Russian forces have retaken 63.2% of the territory captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday.

Ukraine is leaning into its efforts to hold onto the Russian territory of Kursk amid intense pressure from Russian and North Korean forces to take it back, apparently gambling that the region

Ukraine’s continued focus on Kursk shows how important Kyiv believes it is to hold on to Russian land, especially if Trump pushes both sides to the negotiating table.

Ukraine aimed to challenge the self-imposed red lines set by the Biden administration and other Western leaders regarding its ability to strike back against Russia.

Ukraine launches a new offensive in Russia's Kursk region, raising questions about its strategic goals and potential impact on the war's trajectory and upcoming peace talks.

Kyiv says that North Korean troops are fighting in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August. Kyiv says it still controls several hundred square kilometres of territory there.

In a statement posted on X, Zelenskyy said he had instructed Ukraine's security service to allow journalists access to the captured soldiers.

Ukrainian soldiers, alongside units of the Ukrainian Defence Forces, have thwarted several Russian assault operations near Kursk. A recording of the intense battles has been published online. Russian troops continue their attempts to push the Ukrainian Defence Forces' units out of the Kursk region in Russia.

On January 18, the Russian state news agency TASS, citing a source from “Russian security agencies,” reported that the remains of several civilians had been found in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the partially occupied Kursk region.