Russia has expelled Ukrainian forces from a key stronghold in the Kursk region, according to military reports

Russia is nearing the complete reclamation of its western Kursk region after successfully displacing Ukrainian forces from one of their remaining strongholds, according to the regional governor and state media reports on Tuesday.

The Russian Defence Ministry shared footage purportedly showing the recapture of the settlement of Guyevo, accompanied by dramatic music. The video depicted smoke billowing from various structures, a soldier displaying the Russian flag from a damaged Orthodox church window, and Russian troops conducting house-to-house searches for any concealed Ukrainian soldiers.

While Reuters confirmed the video’s location through existing files and satellite imagery, the date of the footage remains unverified. Ukraine has not provided an immediate response.

Since August of the previous year, Russia has been working to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk following a surprise incursion by Kyiv’s troops that embarrassed President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had hoped this move would serve as leverage in future negotiations. Recently, however, Russia has regained significant territory within Kursk, pushing Ukrainian forces closer to the border. Additionally, it has begun to advance into Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region after Putin mentioned the potential for establishing a buffer zone.

Alexander Khinshtein, the Kursk governor appointed by President Putin in December, stated that the raising of the Russian flag in Guyevo indicates that Russian forces are on track to regain control of the region “very soon.” The state TASS news agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported that Russian forces need to drive Ukrainian troops out of just two more settlements—Gornal and Oleshnya—to reclaim the entire region. The Defence Ministry claimed its forces had defeated Ukrainian troops in the vicinity of these settlements, although it suggested they still remained under Ukrainian control. Reuters has not been able to verify these battlefield assertions.

Ukraine’s prominent DeepState war map indicates that the country currently controls approximately 58 square kilometers (22 square miles) of Russian territory in the Kursk region, a significant decrease from the 1,400 square kilometers previously claimed by Kyiv last year.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged for the first time that Ukrainian forces have been operating in Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region. He stated that the purpose of these operations in border areas is to safeguard Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian aggression, asserting that “the war must return to where it originated.”

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties, displaced millions, devastated towns, and sparked the most intense confrontation between Moscow and the West in decades.

Russian commander Apti Alaudinov was reported by the state RIA news agency on Friday, stating that the situation in the Belgorod region is “under control” following an attempted incursion by the Ukrainian army around two weeks ago.