From daring invasion to rapid retreat: the end of Ukraine’s Kursk gambit

Last summer, Artem Kariakin was among the first Ukrainian soldiers to cross the border and capture Russian territory in the Kursk region — in a surprise offensive aimed at strengthening Kyiv’s hand in any talks on ending the war.

Now, as those talks finally begin, he finds himself racing to retreat. With Russian forces closing in on Sudzha, the biggest town Ukraine had captured and where he was based, Kariakin piled gear and fellow troops into a pick-up truck and sped for the border.

“We put a guy in the back with a machine gun to try and shoot down any drones above us, switched on our jammers, crossed ourselves, and set off,” he told the Financial Times. “The main thing was just to get out of there.”

On Thursday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin toured nearby in fatigues, the defence ministry claimed it had taken Sudzha back, while state media shared images of Moscow’s soldiers hanging flags in the centre of the town.

Kariakin, 27, said he continues to cross into the Kursk region every day to evacuate Ukrainian troops — many of whom trek dozens of kilometres on foot to ride out in his truck, as the main road is under constant Russian fire. Still, he said he was not surprised at Russia pushing them out.

“Our problems started long before this,” he said.

Ukraine caught its adversary off guard when it began its incursion on August 6, more than two years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Kyiv’s forces managed at one point to seize some 1,300 sq km of Russian territory. But over the first few weeks the area they were able to hold became a narrow wedge.

“It is no secret that the zone of our incursion, it should have been wider,” Kariakin said. “A wide area along the border would have been much more comfortable.”

Instead, Russian troops surrounded Ukraine’s occupying forces on three sides. It was a precarious position and became increasingly difficult to hold.

“The pocket was always relatively small,” said Rob Lee, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “Russia then repeatedly just chipped away at it at the flanks.”

The operation’s goals changed on the go, said a person familiar with the original Ukrainian plan for the incursion. Initially, it was intended as a deep but short-term raid, the person said. But then the plan shifted to holding land — exposing Kyiv’s troops to bigger risks.

Kariakin said soldiers also had to deal with unexpected setbacks such as the realisation that Starlink, a key tool for communication, did not work on Russian soil.

The soldiers set up positions across the area they were holding, prompting an exodus by Russian villagers and small town dwellers. Hundreds of civilians remained trapped and many dozens were killed, according to Russian authorities.

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