FILE PHOTO: Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi attends a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and newly appointed top military commanders, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 10, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
KYIV (Reuters) - Kyiv's top general said on Monday that Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia's Kursk region were not at risk of encirclement, despite a recent counteroffensive by Russian forces that has included North Korean troops.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, who said he was visiting the forces fighting in Kursk without specifying whether he had crossed into Russia, made the remark in a statement on social media in which he also said the situation was under control.
In the last few days, open source maps showed Russia piercing the frontline and carving out a narrow salient in the small piece of Russian territory that Ukraine occupied last year, partly as a possible bargaining chip in any future peace talks.
"A number of settlements on the border, the names of which appear in the reports of Russian propagandists, no longer actually exist - they have been destroyed by the aggressor's shelling," Syrskyi said.
"Despite the involvement of a significant number of Russian troops in the offensive, reinforced by North Korean infantry, the enemy is suffering significant losses in manpower and equipment," he added.
Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had recaptured three more settlements in the Kursk region.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Gareth Jones)
