As Russia Retakes Kursk, Ukrainians Ask, 'Was it Worth it?'

When Mariia Pankova last exchanged messages with her close friend Pavlo in December, she had no idea that he was among the Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia's Kursk region.
She found out when a fellow soldier told her several days later that her friend, Pavlo Humeniuk, 24, a combat engineer in Ukraine's 47th Magura brigade, had gone missing near the village of Novoivanivka in Kursk on December 6.
Almost four months have passed and there has been no further information about Pavlo's fate, Pankova told Reuters, citing her conversations with his relatives. She keeps searching on Telegram and Facebook hoping to find out whether he is dead or alive.
Pankova, 25, believes the cost of Ukraine's risky incursion into Russia may have been too high. The sentiment is shared by many others in Ukraine, especially after troops retreated from most of Kursk this month following weeks of heavy fighting.
"I'm just not sure it was worth it," she said, large teardrops running down her face when talking about her missing friend, who she bonded with over their shared love of hiking in Ukraine's mountains.
"We're not invaders. We just need our territories back, we do not need the Russian one."
In response to questions for this story, Ukraine's armed forces General Staff said the offensive was meant to put pressure on Moscow, to divert Russian forces from other fronts and to prevent Russian cross-border attacks on neighboring parts of Ukraine.
The operation "achieved most of its goals", the General Staff said.
Kyiv's assault on Kursk in August took Russia, and the world, by surprise. It was the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the Nazi invasion of 1941.
As Ukrainian soldiers smashed into the Kursk region, largely unopposed, they quickly seized some 1,376 square kilometers (531 square miles) of Russian territory.
But short of troops, within weeks the area under Ukraine's control shrank to a narrow wedge.
Kyiv used some of its top marine and air assault forces but the grouping was never large enough to be able to hold on to a larger area.
"From the very beginning, logistics was seriously complicated because as we entered the Kursk region, we ensured sufficient depth but we did not ensure sufficient width," said Serhiy Rakhmanin, a Ukrainian lawmaker on the parliament's committee for security and defense.
From the start, Russia had a manpower advantage along the Kursk frontline.
But the situation became critical late last year. Russia brought in elite units and top drone forces as reinforcements, aided by North Korean forces. They tightened assaults around Ukrainian flanks and advanced to within firing range of a key supply road, according to reports from Ukrainian military bloggers close to the armed forces.
"They not only increased the number of their group opposing our military, but they also improved its quality," Rakhmanin said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never acknowledged the role of the North Koreans on the battlefield.
'NO LOGIC'
Russia's retaking of the Kursk region removes a potential bargaining chip for Ukraine just as US President Donald Trump undertakes talks to end the war with Russia, which holds around a fifth of Ukraine's national lands.
Ukraine's retreat from the Kursk city of Sudzha, confirmed by Kyiv on March 16, prompted questions and deepened the public divide in Ukraine on the benefits of the incursion.
Soldier Oleksii Deshevyi, 32, a former supermarket security guard who lost his hand while fighting in Kursk in September, said he saw no logic in the operation.
"We should not have started this operation at all," he told Reuters in a rehabilitation center in Kyiv, where he has spent the past six months adjusting to life after injury.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged his military is in a difficult position in Kursk and that he expects continued attacks from Russia as it attempts to push the remaining Ukrainian forces out of the region.
However, he has denied claims by Putin and Trump that his forces are surrounded. US intelligence assessments also state Kyiv's troops are not encircled.
The Russian forces are now sending small assault groups to try to break through the Ukrainian border in the Sumy region, and may also be readying for a bigger attack there, Ukrainian military analysts said.
In public comments made to Putin, Russia's chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov last week confirmed his troops' recent incursions into Sumy. He detailed what he said were heavy Ukrainian losses in Kursk.
Even as Ukraine shifted to a defensive operation, its goals included “control over the territory of the Russian Federation, exhaustion of the enemy, destruction of its personnel and pulling back its reserves,” Ukraine's General Staff said.
It added that nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner, some of whom were swapped for Ukrainian prisoners.
Because of the operation, Moscow had to create three new groupings, totaling about 90,000 soldiers, as well as 12,000 North Korean servicemen, the General Staff said.
Reuters could not independently verify those claims.
RISKY GAMBLE
Even at the start, some criticized it as a risky gamble.
Viktor Muzhenko, former head of Ukraine's General Staff, wrote in August 2024 that Ukraine should "focus on defending its key territories, avoiding unpredictable risky operations that could divert attention from main threats, and choose forms and methods of using troops that are adequate to their capabilities."
However, some in Ukraine hailed the operation as a black eye for Russia.
Speaking on March 12, Oleksander Syrskyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief, said the operation diverted and killed some of Russia's best troops.
Lawmaker Rakhmanin said it also provided a much-needed boost to morale in Ukraine after Russia made territorial advances there in 2024 and showcased Ukraine's ability to conduct successful offensive operations.
While Trump negotiates with Putin for an end to the war, Pankova remembered her friend Pavlo and cast doubt over the possibility of a peace deal that prevented Russia from later taking more Ukrainian territory.
She was thinking of joining the armed forces, she said.
"Every time that someone tries to, let's say, sell some piece of Ukraine, they just have not to forget what we already gave. How many lives our people gave for that.

Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water cannon against protesters in Türkiye’s capital early Thursday, potentially reigniting tensions after two days of relative calm in the country's biggest anti-government protests in over a decade.

The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu, jailed on corruption charges many see as politically motivated, is also accused of supporting terrorism. The government insists the judiciary is independent, but critics say the evidence is based on secret witnesses and lacks credibility.

Early Thursday, student demonstrators tried to march and gathered to read a statement near the gates at Middle East Technical University, pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported. They were met by security forces who deployed pepper spray, water cannon and plastic pellets. A standoff ensued where the students hid behind a barricade of dumpsters until the police charged to detain them.

Melih Meric, a legislator with the Republican People’s Party or CHP, was seen soaked with water and suffering from pepper spray exposure. “My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the police strictly did not allow it, this is the result," Meric said in social media videos.

Officials have not said how many people were detained.

Ozgur Ozel, the leader of party to which Imamoglu belongs, had promised that lawmakers would stand alongside protesters in the hope of lowering tensions. He also warned Tuesday that if the police provoked demonstrators he would “make a call for 500,000 people to (come to) the place that will disturb” the authorities the most.

At least 1,400 people were detained first six days of the protests, the interior minister said Tuesday.

Demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands have swept across major cities, including opposition-organized rallies outside Istanbul City Hall. Other major protests have been held in Istanbul's districts of Kadikoy and Sisli districts in recent days.

Erdogan has accused the opposition of “sinking the economy” by calling for a boycott of companies it says support the government. The president said those responsible for hurting financial stability would be held “accountable."

Meanwhile, Imamoglu, speaking from prison via social media Wednesday, denounced police violence against protesters, “I cannot call them police because my honorable police would not commit this cruelty to the young children of the nation,” he said.

Imamoglu has been confirmed as the main opposition party's candidate for presidential elections due in 2028 but which could come earlier. He has performed well in recent polls against Erdogan, for whom his election as mayor of Türkiye’s largest city in 2019 was a major blow.

As Russia Retakes Kursk, Ukrainians Ask, 'Was it Worth it?'