Struggling in Kursk, Ukraine suffers heavy losses at training ground

The Ukrainian army reported on March 3 that Kursk province (Russia) has become a hot spot with many clashes. Meanwhile, a Russian raid on a training ground in Ukraine caused great losses for Kyiv.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on March 3 that Russia has intensified its offensive activities in Kursk province, with about 109 clashes in the area in 24 hours. In addition, Kyiv revealed that Russia continues to intend to approach Ukraine's northern border, aiming to move deep into Ukrainian territory and cut off the logistical support lines for Kyiv's operation in Kursk.

“We saw the enemy attempting to penetrate the territory with combat groups or expand the combat zone near the settlement of Novenke (near the Russian-Ukrainian border in northeastern Ukraine). However, the defense forces inflicted maximum damage to stop the Russian advance into Ukrainian territory. Our task is to prevent Russia from advancing further into Ukraine and cut off the logistics routes to Kursk,” said Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Border Guard Service.

Predicting the time when the Ukrainian army will be 'miserable' due to lack of US aid

Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted Mr. Demchenko explaining that when Russia wanted to push the Ukrainian army out of Kursk, Moscow often put pressure on both flanks to create a pincer movement against Ukraine, thereby expanding the war zone, but the plan was stopped by Ukrainian defense forces.

Meanwhile, the pro-Ukrainian war analysis site DeepState assessed that the situation in Kursk is disadvantageous for Ukraine. "The biggest problem in Kursk is Russia's control of firepower over all logistical operations of the Ukrainian defense forces. Since January, Russia has increased its monitoring of logistical operations but Ukraine has not yet had a suitable solution to deal with it," according to DeepState's analysis.

Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a burning building in Kharkiv on March 2.

The Ukrainian military announced on March 3 that it had shot down 46 of the 83 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Russia launched overnight in many areas of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on the same day that it had attacked Ukraine's airport and UAV factory. Moscow also announced that Ukraine lost about 160 soldiers in Kursk and 12 soldiers surrendered. Russia and Ukraine did not comment on the statements of their opponents.

AFP analysis published on March 3 showed that in February, the Russian army advanced 389 ^km2 and pushed back Ukrainian forces. This figure, although lower than January (431 ^km2 ) and December 2024 (476 ^km2 ), still shows that Moscow still maintains its momentum and control of Ukrainian territories.

From March 2024 to February, Russia controlled about 4,500 ^km2 of Ukrainian territory. The above statistics are 20 times higher than the period from March 2023 to February 2024, when Moscow only controlled 231 ^km2 . Meanwhile, Ukraine once controlled about 1,300 ^km2 in Kursk when launching an attack on this Russian area. However, in recent months, Kyiv has gradually lost its position and now only controls about 407 ^km2 in Kursk as of February 28.

Europe rushes to find ways to help Ukraine after the "disaster" of the Trump-Zelensky talks

Russia attacks Ukraine training ground

Ukrainian officials confirmed on March 3 that Russia had carried out an attack on a military training area on March 1 in Dnipropetrovsk province. Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Moscow had used Iskander-M ballistic missiles carrying cluster bombs and had recorded deaths and injuries, although he did not mention specific numbers.

Image from video released by Russia of the attack on the Ukrainian training ground in Dnipropetrovsk on March 1

PHOTO: RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

Earlier, TASS news agency quoted a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry saying that Moscow had carried out a raid on a Ukrainian training area in Dnipropetrovsk on March 1, causing up to 150 casualties, including 30 foreign training officers. Russia said it targeted members of Ukraine's 157th Mechanized Brigade who were undergoing training.

A prominent Ukrainian military blogger, Yury Butusov, said 30 to 40 soldiers were killed and 90 wounded. Kyiv did not release exact casualties. Mr. Syrskyi said a commission had been set up to investigate the attack and the head of the training center and the commander of the unit based there had been suspended pending an investigation.

Ukrainian Intelligence: Russia Preparing Large-Scale UAV Attack

Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR), said that the Russian military is planning to increase UAV production and prepare for a large-scale attack on Ukraine.

In an interview with RBC Ukraine, Mr. Skibitskyi said: “According to Russian commanders, if Moscow fulfills the plans set in the first half of this year, they will be able to launch an attack with 500 UAVs at the same time.”

The Ukrainian official added that Russia aims to increase the number of UAVs that can be deployed in one attack, while expanding the network of UAV launch points. According to Mr. Skibitskyi, Russia has not changed the key targets in missile and UAV attacks, focusing on Ukrainian military headquarters, airports, energy infrastructure and defense enterprises.

Ukrainian soldiers fire M109 artillery in Donetsk on February 28 in Donetsk province.

Russia has no official plan for peace in Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 3 that a peace plan for Ukraine is not currently on Russia’s agenda. Mr. Peskov said some initial drafts of a peace plan have been drawn up, but so far there is no official plan, TASS reported.

Regarding the activities of European countries to support Ukraine and find a solution to end the conflict, Mr. Peskov said: "It is very important that someone will make Mr. Zelensky change his position. He does not want peace. If Europe can make him change, they deserve to be honored."

In a post on social network X on March 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine wants peace, while criticizing Russia for not wanting to negotiate after carrying out many airstrikes in Ukraine. On the same day, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that there were some potential proposals for a Ukraine ceasefire agreement, although he did not give details. Mr. Zelensky is determined not to give up territory to Russia, while the Kremlin believes that the Ukrainian leader does not want to acknowledge the current situation on the battlefield.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chien-su-ukraine-ngay-1104-giang-co-tai-kursk-ukraine-ton-that-nang-o-khu-thao-truong-185250303230136499.htm