The frontline has been breached

Ukrainian troops seized about 1,300 square kilometers of Russia's Kursk region in August in what Kyiv said was an attempt to gain bargaining power in future talks and to force Russia to withdraw forces from eastern Ukraine.

But by mid-February, Russia had regained at least 800 square kilometers of territory in Kursk and in recent days launched a major multi-pronged offensive that threatens to cut off Ukrainian supply lines and potential withdrawal routes.

A war blogger who goes by the pseudonym "Two Majors" said that Russian forces have cleared the settlement of Ivashkovsky and that Russian units are advancing in the so-called "cauldron" in Kursk, from at least seven directions.

Yuriy Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger, said he had trouble following events because the Russian advance was so fast and Ukrainian units were trapped in several pockets in Kursk.

"During the past four days, Russian troops have cleared as much territory in the Kursk region as they sometimes could not clear in a few months," said a Russian blogger close to the defense ministry using the pseudonym "Fisherman".

"The frontline has been breached," the Fisherman pointed out, adding that Russian forces are massing inside the Ukrainian border to cut off the main roads leading from Kursk to Ukraine.

Russian forces recaptured three more settlements in Kursk on Sunday after special forces crept kilometers through a gas pipeline near the city of Suzh in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces.

Russia's advance in 2024 and US President Donald Trump's shift in US policy towards Ukraine and Russia have sparked fears among European leaders that Ukraine will lose the war and that Trump is turning his back on Europe.

The US this month paused military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after an awkward meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28 at the White House.