Bloodied Ukrainian Troops Risk Losing More Hard-Won Land In Kursk To Russia

KUPYANSK, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 26: Group portrait of soldiers during combat work of the 82-mm mortar unit on December 26, 2024 in Kupiansk, Ukraine. Russian troops attack the suburbs daily and try to start street fighting in the city on the left bank of the Oskil River. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied by daily combat losses and demoralized by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk. Some want to stay in the region at all costs. Others question the value of having gone in at all. Battles are so intense that commanders are unable to evacuate their dead. Lags in communication and poorly timed operations have cost lives and commanders say they have little way to counterattack. The overstretched Ukrainians have lost more than 40% of the territory they won in the lightning incursion that seized much of Kursk in August.