INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian state media and pro-war bloggers shared videos on Wednesday showing Russian troops raising flags in the town of Sudzha in the
video appeared on the websites of the state-run news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS.In that video, an officer behind the camera points to
The day before, the military reported retaking 12 settlements in the border region.Analysts have linked the rapid advance of Russian forces
around Sudzha to a withdrawal of Ukrainian troops, which have occupied parts of the Kursk region for more than seven months.On Tuesday,
presence of Russian media near Sudzha suggests Ukrainian forces withdrew without a fight, an apparent attempt to preserve their personnel
and equipment.Matveev predicted on X that Russian forces would regain full control of the Kursk region later on Wednesday.Similarly, Ruslan
Leviev, founder of the independent war monitor Conflict Intelligence Team, told exiled broadcaster TV Rain on Wednesday that Ukrainian
unused section of pipeline, which once carried Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, in order to carry out a sneak attack on Ukrainian forces
miles) of land in the Kursk region after launching an offensive in August, aiming to use the occupied territory as leverage in future peace
negotiations with Russia.As of Wednesday, the area under Ukrainian control had shrunk to less than 200 square kilometers (77 square miles),
according to DeepState, a battlefield tracker with ties to the Ukrainian military.
