Pressure mounts on Ukraine soldiers fighting to hold Kursk as Russia races to take it back

Russian defence officials say its military has retaken three villages in the Kursk region, in what Ukraine is calling a major push to squeeze its troops out of Russia before U.S. president-elect Donald Trump takes office in the new year. 

On Wednesday, Russia said it had recaptured two villages — Daryino and Plyokhovo — that are on the edge of an approximately 800-square-kilometre area of Russia that has been under Ukrainian control since a surprise incursion in August. On Thursday, it reported retaking a third village, Novoivanovka. 

"They have been ordered to liberate the Kursk region by the first of January … using all means," said Vitallii, 35, a Ukrainian soldier who spoke to CBC News by phone on Wednesday. 

Vitallii, which is his first name, said he and other troops learned about the apparent timeline from Russian prisoners of war who were captured and later questioned in a basement in the city of Sudzha, which Ukraine took full control of on Aug. 15. 

Soldiers interviewed for this story don't use their full name in keeping Ukrainian military restrictions. Some have chosen to go by their call signs.

Push before inauguration

Vitallii said that despite recently losing ground on the flank, the overall situation in Kursk is relatively stable. He said Ukraine troops have been given orders to hold the line against a reported wave of 60,000 Russian troops, along with thousands of North Korean soldiers.

Almost three weeks ago, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was sure that Putin wanted to "push us out by Jan. 20," the day that Trump will take office.  

The U.S. president-elect has repeatedly vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine.

More than a half-dozen soldiers stationed in Kursk told CBC News that they understand the pressure to negotiate is mounting, but they can't envision how both sides could possibly reach a deal — let alone one that would last beyond a temporary truce. 

"I do not see any possibility that the Russians are tuning in to some kind of peace. They are doing well now and the dynamics of this, unfortunately, will continue," said Vitaliy, who spoke to CBC News from an undisclosed location in the Sumy region. He was taking a break after being deployed to the Kursk region since September.

All of the soldiers CBC News spoke with said morale was relatively good in Kursk, despite the shortages of equipment and more troops. 

Spirits flagging elsewhere

Elsewhere, though, the situation is more dire, said a soldier with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit who only wanted to be identified by his call sign. Bryn. 

A few weeks ago, while on a break from his deployment to Kursk, Bryn visited his 26-year-old son who is on the front line in the Donetsk region near the town of Kurakhhove, where Russia is fighting to get full control. 

In the southeast, he said, units are losing men and territory as Russia continues to advance toward the strategically important logistics hub of Pokrovsk. 

"The troops don't feel well, they are exhausted and losing their strength," Bryn said in a phone interview with CBC News. 

"The main problem is people. We are losing a lot of people there." 

In a rare admission, Zelenskyy stated on Dec. 8 that 43,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed since the start of Russia's full-scale war on Feb. 24, 2022. Another 370,000 have been wounded. 

Western officials estimate that as many as 800,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in the same timeframe. Ukrainian defence officials report that in November alone, more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were killed or injured every day. 

Bryn said that when he and his unit were previously deployed to Donetsk, there was a "pack your bags" mentality. Troops were always on the move because of Russian advances, he said.

Wary of negotiations

He said that is not the case in Kursk, where he is part of a team tasked with trying to bring down Shahed drones that explode upon crashing into a target. 

Bryn described spending his days camped out in buildings or in trenches, watching the sky and listening. When drones are spotted, he often jumps in a vehicle and races out with others to try and bring them down. 

He thinks the new year will bring more clarity around how exactly Trump envisions instilling peace.  Even though he believes negotiations are likely at this point, he doesn't want them. 

"I would like victory ... but I am afraid that many in civilian life will want negotiations," he said.

"When you talk to civilians, sometimes it seems that they are more tired than (soldiers) are."

Another soldier, who goes by the call sign Historic, told CBC News that if the war ends with Russia keeping the Ukrainian territory it seized, he can't imagine staying in the country. He would try to move his wife and young children abroad, he said. 

"What did our brothers die for if, in the process of negotiations, we give Putin everything he asked for?"  he said during an interview over Zoom with CBC News. 

"I want this war to end with the fact that we return all our territories, although this is not realistic now by military means."

Russia has already squeezed Ukraine out of more than 40 per cent of the territory it seized in Kursk in August.

None of the soldiers CBC spoke to said they have seen any evidence of soldiers sent by North Korea to assist Russia's efforts. But they all said that Ukraine is on the defensive and Russian attacks now seem more frequent.

Mobilization campaign 'failed'

A military officer from Lviv, whose call sign is Saigon, said that they face assaults every day from Russian units, which will send in eight armoured vehicles at a time with as many as 10 men in each. The sound of drones overhead is almost constant.

Saigon said he thinks Ukraine's decision to send troops to Russia was worth it because it drew significant forces away from the southeast and slowed the advance there. 

Ukraine's mobilization campaign, on the other hand, has "failed," he said. 

On checkpoints, he has seen middle-aged men inflicted with chronic diseases. To him, that means they can't fight as effectively. 

"We need a lot of young and motivated people," he said.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters that Ukraine needs to draft younger men and lower the call-up age, currently set at 25. 

Ukraine has no plans to lower the draft age further, and has responded to the appeals from western officials by saying the country needs more weapons to equip the troops it has. 

Saigon's colleague, who goes by the call sign Google, spoke with CBC News during the same Zoom call. He mused that perhaps Ukrainians would be more eager to enlist if it offered the same relatively lucrative signing bonuses that Russian regions have started handing out. 

He said it's to be expected that Russia will try to take back all of Kursk, noting that would give them a sense of strength headed into any peace talks. 

"But what kind of negotiations we can talk about now, I do not know," he said.

"Perhaps our leaders have some other plans but we do our job."