One year of the Kursk operation. Russia lost more than 77,000 soldiers, most goals achieved – Syrsky

august 6 marks the anniversary of the start of the Kursk operation of the Defense Forces. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi told about its annual results, in particular, the total enemy losses amounted to 77,000 soldiers.

According to him, at the peak of the operation, the Defense Forces controlled up to 1,300 square kilometers of Kursk region.

"We demoralized the Russians' personnel and forced them to move significant reserves to Kursk region, relieving pressure on other frontline areas. At that time, we did not allow the enemy to implement their offensive plans and formed a buffer zone, thanks to which Sumy and Kharkiv remain on free Ukrainian land," noted the Chief of Staff .

In total, from August 6, 2024, to August 6, 2025, Russia lost more than 77,000 servicemen killed and wounded in this direction, including about 4,000 North Korean citizens.

7236 pieces of Russian weapons and military equipment were destroyed or damaged, including 211 tanks, 1083 armored combat vehicles, 907 artillery systems, one aircraft, three helicopters, 15 air defense systems and 2795 vehicles.

In addition, the operation provided an "invaluable" humanitarian result: 1,018 Russian servicemen were captured. Thanks to this, Ukrainians who had been held there since 2022 were returned home from enemy captivity.

According to Syrsky, the offensive in Kursk region has achieved most of the goals set by the country's top leadership.

"In fact, the enemy was able to restore the lost positions and areas only after it had engaged DPRK troops, significantly increased its grouping, and moved the main intensity of the use of guided aerial bombs to the Kursk region," he said.

As of August 6, 2025 Ukrainian troops maintain presence in the territory of Glushkovsky district of Kursk region, restraining part of the Russian offensive group, the chief of.

The Special Operations Forces told and showed the details of the operation, which began for them two months earlier. Reconnaissance was conducted, strikes were carried out on Russian rear structures, and key elements of Russian defense were destroyed.

Not only physical actions were used, but also psychological pressure – the psychological operations units of the SSO sowed chaos and panic, and the Russian military were disorganized through the operation codenamed "Seneca".

"Small groups entered the enemy's rear long before August, where they destroyed its defenses before the main forces arrived. Thanks to the unique and comprehensive use of the Special Forces, the soldiers led the main forces of Ukrainian troops into Russia. Russia woke up unable to resist the offensive on August 6," the Special Forces noted .

And the DPRK forces, which Russia engaged to counter the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region, suffered perhaps the greatest losses since the end of the active phase of the Korean War more than 70 years ago.

• Since the beginning of spring 2025, Russians have regularly claimed to have allegedly the complete ousting of Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, but the authorities and military assure that this is not true .
• As of the end of June, the Ukrainian Armed Forces controlled about 90 square kilometers in the Russian region. This is almost ten times less than in November 2024, and fifteen times less than at the beginning of the Kursk operation.
• On July 23, Chief Syrsky explained why he launched the Kursk operation. According to him, the allies harshly criticized Ukraine because the troops were retreating.