Ukrainian units are not currently under threat of encirclement in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 10. Syrskyi's statement follows reports on Russian and North Korean troops launching an attack on the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast.

The repositioning could be a prelude to a complete Ukrainian withdrawal from Kursk back to the relative safety of northern Ukraine. Shrugging off at least one raid by a Ukrainian

Butusov wrote on Facebook on March 8 that Russian troops had used a gas pipeline to approach Ukrainian positions in Sudzha in Kursk Oblast. He added that the troops are being "liquidated."