A Russian solder in Malaya Loknya, not far from Sudzha. March 11, 2025.
Amid Russia’s rapid advance in its western Kursk region, Ukrainian troops have fully withdrawn from Sudzha — the only city they held there. Analysts say Ukraine is conducting an organized retreat and Russian forces are reclaiming territory with little to no resistance. After months of failed attempts to advance on Sudzha from the north, Russian forces broke through in a single day on March 8 — just days after the U.S. paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv. Commenting on the withdrawal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the military’s priority was “preserving as many of our soldiers’ lives as possible.” Here’s what we know so far about the situation in Sudzha.
On Wednesday morning, pro-war Russian Telegram channels began circulating a video showing soldiers with a Russian flag in Sudzha’s central square. Meduza’s analysis of open-source video footage confirms that Ukrainian forces have fully withdrawn from the Russian city.
Ruslan Leviev, founder of the independent investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team, stated that “it’s safe to say the entire city of Sudzha is now under Russian control.” He noted that Ukrainian troops were retreating in an orderly manner while Russian forces were reestablishing control with little resistance. Leviev suggested that Ukrainian forces may soon withdraw entirely from the Kursk region: “This could be over today. Or maybe border villages will hold out for a few more days.”
The Telegram channel Rybar, which has ties to Russia’s Defense Ministry, also reported that in recent days, Ukrainian forces have systematically withdrawn their most experienced units from the Kursk region, redeploying them to the Donetsk front in Ukraine.
In its morning report, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the recapture of five settlements: Kazachya Loknya, Pervy Knyazhy, Pervy Knyazhy, Zamoste, and Mirny. The first three are north of Sudzha, while the other two border the city to the south and east, respectively. However, the ministry made no mention of Sudzha itself.
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RBC Ukraine noted that on the daily battle maps published by Ukraine’s General Staff on March 10–11, the territory under Ukrainian control had visibly shrunk. On March 12, the Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState, which works closely with the country’s Defense Ministry, updated its battle map, marking Sudzha as no longer under Ukrainian control. Earlier that day, however, the Ukrainian outlet Suspilne cited an unnamed serviceman in the Kursk region who said that fighting was still ongoing in the city.
Commenting on the situation, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian forces were carrying out their objectives in the Kursk region while military command worked to preserve soldiers’ lives.
“Our troops in the Kursk region are fulfilling their tasks. The Russians are clearly applying maximum pressure on our forces. [Ukraine’s] military command is doing what it must — preserving as many of our soldiers’ lives as possible,” Zelensky said during a press briefing.
Before the war, Sudzha had a population of 5,000. It had been under Ukrainian control since mid-August 2024 and was the only city in the Kursk region captured by Ukrainian forces.
### Russian troops reportedly spent days crawling through gas pipeline to slip behind Ukrainian lines in Kursk region### Russian troops reportedly spent days crawling through gas pipeline to slip behind Ukrainian lines in Kursk region