Zelenskiy Says Putin Aiming To Regain Kursk Territory Before Trump Takes Office

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia is seeking to drive his forces out of the Kursk region before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office next year but added that the military situation in the Donetsk region is the most critical for his country.

“I am certain that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants to push us out before January 20,” Zelenskiy told reporters, referring to the day of Trump’s inauguration. “It is very important for him to show that he controls the situation” in Kursk.

Ukraine stunned the Kremlin by sweeping into the Kursk region in August, seizing nearly 1,400 square kilometers of Russian territory. With Trump promising to end the war upon entering office, Moscow could be forced to exchange land it seized in Ukraine for Kursk territory should it fail to push Ukrainian forces out in time.

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Putin has sent tens of thousands of Russian troops to Kursk who are mounting wave after wave of counterattacks, a source on Ukraine's General Staff said. Russia has regained about 800 square kilometers in Kursk or about 40 percent of the territory Ukraine seized, the source said.

Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian troops are inflicting large-scale losses on Russian forces in Kursk. Russia has recently been losing as many as 1,500 troops a day to injury and death across the entire theater of the war, the most since the invasion began in February 2022, Ukrainian and Western officials said.

“Russia hasn’t suffered such losses as it is now suffering in Kursk,” Zelenskiy said.

Russia has recruited more than 11,000 North Korean troops to help it take back Kursk territory. The North Korean troops reportedly arrived last month though it is unclear if they have taken part in fighting yet.

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The United States and the United Kingdom reportedly gave permission this week to Ukraine to strike inside Russia with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles respectively. The missiles are precision, tactical weapons designed to hit command-and-control centers, logistics and arms depots near the front.

Ukraine has already used the missiles to strike in Kursk and the neighboring region of Belgorod.

Russian Advances

Meanwhile, Russian ground forces continue to make incremental advances in eastern Ukraine, including near the town of Velyka Novosilka, according to Deep State, an open-source organization with ties to the Ukrainian Army, and confirmed by other analysts.

Ukraine has been struggling to hold back the Russian advances due to a lack of manpower, raising concern about a possible breakthrough. While Russia is losing forces at a greater rate, the Kremlin is able to quickly replace them thanks to lucrative wages and incentives.

Putin on November 23 widened those incentives, signing a law permitting the cancellation of debt for new army recruits volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

The new law allows the state to forgive up to 10 million rubles ($95,835) of debt for those signing contracts with the Defense Ministry to fight in Ukraine for at least a year, beginning on December 1.

The law applies to all potential recruits who have had debt collection proceedings opened against them before December 1. The maximum debt forgiveness is several times the average annual salary in Russia’s provinces.

Valeriy Zaluzhniy, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said in an interview published on November 23 that new technological advances will prevent a “serious breakthrough” at the front.

Ukraine and Russia have been rapidly developing reconnaissance and strike drones as well as electronic warfare weapons. The technology advancements have helped Ukraine partially compensate for its lack of manpower.

In the interview, Zaluzhniy said that Russia will struggle to expand the front line and break through because it would require huge resources "which the Russians no longer have."

Trump Presidency

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet his counterparts from the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations outside Rome on November 25-26 to discuss the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

It will be the last G7 meeting for the Biden administration, which is seeking to ensure that support for Ukraine is sustained when Trump enters office in January.

Trump has criticized aid to Ukraine, raising questions whether he will continue support should a peace deal not be reached.

The president-elect met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Florida on November 22 to discuss Ukraine and other issues facing the alliance.

Meanwhile, Trump is reportedly considering Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, for the new post of special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

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Zelenskiy told reporters that the war could end next year if Ukraine continues to get strong Western support. Zelenskiy spoke with media following the Grain From Ukraine Summit in Kyiv. Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of grains to world markets.

Prior to the conference, Zelenskiy visited a memorial to the victims of the Holodomor, the man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet government in the 1930s that led to the deaths of millions of Ukrainians.

In a clear reference to Putin’s war against Ukraine, Zelenskiy said: "There is something we know for certain. They wanted to destroy us. To kill us. To subjugate us. They failed."

With reporting by Reuters