Days after Ukrainian troops unexpectedly seized part of Russia's Kursk region, President Vladimir Putin told Russian defense officials that their main goal was to repel the invasion, but six months later that has not happened.

The Russians announced today that the Ukrainians have launched a new offensive in Kursk. According to Russian military bloggers, Ukrainian forces attacked southeast of Sudzha, advancing towards the settlements of Fanaseyevka and Ulanok.

Over the six months since the start of the Ukrainian army's operation in Kursk, the total losses of the Russian army amounted to about 40 thousand people, including more than 16 thousand killed, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russia was also forced to seek help from North Korea, which sent 12 of its soldiers to Kursk, according to Ukrinform.

"The total losses of the North Korean contingent amounted to about 4000 people. Of the three nominal North Korean brigades, one was completely destroyed, while the other two lost their combat capability. As a result, the North Korean units withdrew from the battlefield," the statement said.

According to Ukrainian and Western intelligence services, North Korean soldiers have not been seen on the battlefields at Kursk for weeks.

Putin’s failure to push Ukraine back at Kursk could gain importance as his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump tries to negotiate an end to the war. As Russian troops continue to advance on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, Kiev has a bargaining chip, thanks to the breakthrough at Kursk, for a possible exchange of territory in any negotiations, Bloomberg writes.

The first invasion of Russian territory by a foreign army since World War II is a personal setback for Putin, who at home cultivates an image of a strong ruler protecting the nation's interests. The Kremlin has sought to downplay the crisis since Ukrainian forces crossed the border on August 6, 2024, and seized 1250 square kilometers of territory, including the town of Sudzha and dozens of villages.

Russian troops, meanwhile, have only regained about half of that territory with the help of thousands of North Korean soldiers. Western estimates claim that about 11 North Korean soldiers were engaged at Kursk, of whom about 4 were killed or wounded.

"In general, the effectiveness of military operations is lower than expected. The system was not particularly prepared - neither for the loss of territory nor for such a long battle," said Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the St. Petersburg Policy Foundation.

The fighting is taking place in a relatively limited area of ​​the Kursk region, a small part of the world's largest country, which spans 11 time zones. However, Ukraine's incursion into a region of about a million people, roughly the size of Belgium, has shocked Russians and exposed the consequences of the war that Putin started.

"This is a very important operation, which will be seen when we reach a diplomatic solution to the war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Kiev on Wednesday, adding that the situation in Kursk is stable and Russia will not be able to push back Ukrainian forces in the near future.

The Kremlin treats Kursk as a regional rather than national problem, which means there is no rush, according to Nikolai Petrov, an adviser at the London-based Chatham House think tank.

Zelensky said shortly after the start of the operation that the goal was to create a buffer zone to protect border communities from Russian attacks.

Ukrainian military commanders also sought to relieve pressure on the Ukrainian front by forcing Moscow to redeploy troops to defend Kursk. Although the Kursk operation did not stop the Russian advance into eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin sent thousands of troops to regain control of the region.

However, at his annual press conference in December, Putin, asked by a Kursk resident how long it would take Russia to expel Ukrainian troops, replied: "I cannot and do not want to give a specific date."

This could weigh on Putin as Trump pressures him to begin negotiations to end the war and threatens new sanctions if he refuses.

Russia currently controls roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014.