Russia loses nearly 40,000 troops in six months of Kursk operation — Ukraine's General Staff

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff reported the information.

"The operation of Ukraine's Defense Forces in Russia’s Kursk region began on August 6, 2024, and has now been ongoing for six months. For the first time in 11 years of war, hostilities have shifted onto Russian territory. Our forces continue to hold hundreds of square kilometers of a 'buffer zone' in Russia," the General Staff stated.

They added that the Kursk offensive operation aimed to prevent a new Russian assault on the Sumy and Kharkiv regions, and after six months, it continues to fulfill this objective.

The operation has forced the invading Russian forces to divert significant resources to the Kursk region, weakening their positions in other sectors, the General Staff emphasized.

"Russia was also compelled to seek assistance from North Korea, which deployed 12,000 troops to Kursk. The total losses of the North Korean contingent have reached approximately 4,000 personnel. Of the three nominal North Korean brigades, one has been effectively destroyed, while the other two have lost combat effectiveness. As a result, North Korean units have now been withdrawn from the front line," the statement says.

The General Staff also released a list of Russian equipment losses as of February 5, 2025:

• 131 tanks;
• 689 armored fighting vehicles;
• 386 artillery systems;
• 12 MLRS units;
• 12 air defense systems;
• 1 aircraft;
• 3 helicopters;
• 931 operational-tactical UAVs;
• 1,164 military vehicles;
• 34 special equipment units.

It was reported that during the operation, Ukrainian forces captured 909 Russian soldiers, significantly strengthening the prisoner exchange fund.

"This allowed us to bring home hundreds of Ukrainian defenders who had been held in Russian prisons," the General Staff emphasized.

They also stated that "the Kursk offensive operation remains an example of sudden, asymmetric, and successful actions by Ukraine’s Defense Forces, enabling them to inflict significant losses on a numerically superior enemy and seize the initiative on the battlefield."

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicts that the Kursk operation will become an important part of the negotiation process for ending Russia's war against Ukraine.