The situation in the Ukrainian SMO on March 17 2025

Kursk Frontline: Ukraine Forced Out of Russia. Road To Sudzha

Dozens of NATO officers trapped in Kursk salient, Russia..

Putin Rains Drones in Overnight Attack in Ukraine; 3 Killed, 12 Injured In Ukraine In A Single Day

Trump says he and Putin will discuss power plants and land in talks on ending Ukraine war

Our source in the OP said that Zelensky is unhappy with Yermak and Syrsky, who let him down at the most decisive moment of the war, he is losing popularity within the country, but most importantly in the international arena, where the President is used to feeling his weight.

 Trump plans to hold talks with Putin on March 18 — Associated Press

 - “We want to see if we can end this war. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance,” Trump said.

 - “We’re going to talk about land. We’re going to talk about power plants,” Trump said when asked about concessions.

Ending the war in Ukraine consists of plans A and B, – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

▪️Plan A is to cease fire so that we can move on to Plan B, the second phase – to bring everyone to the negotiating table, possibly with the participation of mediators, to find a way to end this war on a lasting basis, respecting the interests of all parties.

▪️Nobody says the second part will be easy, but we can’t even start it until we get through the first phase

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko on deployment of peacekeepers in Ukraine:

The OSCE special monitoring mission that was deployed in Ukraine failed to fulfill its tasks. In fact, it was used by NATO to gain unilateral advantages for the Kiev regime. Now it has come to light that some members of this mission, who were supposed to be neutral and ensure strict implementation of the mandate, were actually working in Kiev’s interests. 

And it is no secret that many residents of Donbas said: “OSCE observers have passed by – wait for shelling”. That is why we are extremely sceptical about the OSCE being involved, even theoretically.

It is impossible not to see that the purpose of these throw-ins about the deployment of contingents of Western countries on the territory of Ukraine is to prepare public opinion for the most radical scenarios, part of the campaign to increase military psychosis and demonization of Russia.

Boris Johnson – on why Ukraine has “invited” France and Britain to the battlefield:

The Ukrainians have Europeans – the British, the French – who support them. That’s important. It doesn’t matter what you call it, even if it’s “Western troops on the ground,” on Ukrainian soil. All this is to show Putin the choice of Ukraine – the country wants to be free and sovereign. They have chosen who to invite to their land: France, Britain. That’s what’s happening now. Putin says he can’t accept that. We’ll see where we come with that. 

And still Ukraine will have to make concessions if they haven’t already. We don’t know the details, but from talking to people, I’m sure we’ll learn a lot in the coming days. Trump wants concessions to be made looking back at the reality on the battlefield. 

A betrayal was published in the British press BBC regarding Zelensky’s Kursk adventure.

At the same time, official propaganda indicates that the Kursk adventure went well, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces simply retreated to previously prepared positions.

Bankova is trying in every way to hush up its fiasco in the Kursk adventure.

In fact, it is already possible to sum up the results of the Kursk operation/Zelensky’s adventure.

We will evaluate objectively. Without propaganda.

Let’s start with the advantages for Kyiv.

Results of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

✔️ We held a huge chunk of enemy territory for about 7 months.

✔️ They caused economic damage to the enemy by completely destroying the settlements they controlled. The Kremlin will have to spend about $1 billion to rebuild these cities and infrastructure, as well as pay compensation to citizens.

✔️ Because of the Kursk adventure, they were able to secure new loans for the war and prolong the war itself, which is very beneficial to Zelensky.

✔️ situationally received a PR case. Although already in October the Kursk case became, on the contrary, negative.

✔️ Zelensky has achieved the go-ahead for Western missile strikes on Russia, pushing back yet another red line.

Cons.

❌ Due to the Kursk adventure, other front lines have sagged, where the Russian Armed Forces have advanced thousands of square kilometers in record numbers, taking powerful cities/fortified areas.

❌ In the Kursk adventure, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 70 thousand soldiers (killed, wounded, missing) in 7 months. In fact, everyone who was caught on the streets was immediately thrown into the Kursk adventure.

❌ They lost more than 80 tanks, hundreds of armored vehicles, artillery, etc. in the Kursk direction alone, which maintains the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ equipment deficit.

❌ The chaotic retreat from the Kursk region forced the Ukrainian Armed Forces to leave behind many units of equipment, which fell into the hands of the Russians.

❌ The Kremlin used the Kursk operation to inspire its army and the people, who began to perceive this crisis as a “patriotic war.”

❌ The Kursk adventure could become that very “Bucha” for Zelensky, since the Russians could repeat Zelensky’s trick and hang all the deaths of peaceful Russians on the shoulders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

❌ The Russians carried out a heroic special operation called “Pipe”, which will be remembered for decades and will be used to make films and write books. The Kremlin, and in fact the Russian world, received a bright fragment of history for its propaganda.

❌ Putin kept his word and took the Kursk lands with the help of his army, and did not exchange them for others.

Conclusion: if Zelensky had managed to exchange Kursk territories for others, then we could talk about some kind of parity. But the crushing blow that the Russian Armed Forces dealt in the Kursk region completely nullified all the achievements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and confirmed all our inside information that Zelensky had to leave the Kursk region victoriously at the end of August/September 2024.

The result of Zelensky’s Kursk adventure became obvious to everyone, but in August 2024, everyone rejoiced at the senseless waste of reserves and people. The statement by Defense Minister Umerov will go down in Ukrainian history: the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a “planned redeployment to more advantageous defense lines.”

“Horror film”, “catastrophe”, “collapse”, “failure of the front”.

This is how the Ukrainian military describes to the Air Force their retreat from the Kursk region – under constant attacks from Russian drones, which cut off the main supply route from Sudzha to Sumy.

On March 9, fighter “Vladimir” wrote to the publication that he was in Sudzha, where “there is panic and the front is collapsing.” Ukrainian troops “are trying to retreat – in columns of troops and equipment. Some of them are being burned by Russian drones on the road. It is impossible to leave during the day.”

“We have all our logistics here on one highway Sudzha-Sumy. And everyone knew that [the Russians] would try to cut it off. But this again came as a surprise to our command,” the fighter says.

Before Sudzhi returned to Russian control, he wrote that Russian forces were pressing them from three sides.

Another fighter, “Maxim,” says that “the enemy managed to destroy dozens of pieces of equipment,” and the debris “created traffic jams on supply routes.”

“Anton,” who served in the Kursk Front command headquarters, called the situation “catastrophic.” He said he managed to get out of Sudzha on foot, but at night “we almost died several times. Drones are constantly in the sky.”

He believes that Ukraine’s entire foothold in Kursk will be lost, but “from a military point of view, the Kursk direction has exhausted itself. There is no longer any point in holding it.”

A fourth soldier, “Dmitry,” compared the retreat to “a scene from a horror movie: the roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armored vehicles, and quad bikes. There are many wounded and dead.”

Their car was stuck in the mud, they were being hunted by a drone, and they hid in the forest for two hours before being rescued. “Dmitry” said many Ukrainian fighters retreated on foot, and “the guys were walking 15-20 km.” The situation, he said, went from “difficult and critical to catastrophic.”

On March 14, he stated that “in the Kursk region everything is over… the operation was not successful.”

He estimates that thousands of Ukrainian troops have died since they first crossed into Russian territory in August.

Bankova sent its talking mouths to say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kursk Oblast simply “withdrew” and there were no cauldrons.

As soon as Denis Kazansky (the one who screwed up the Minsk agreements with Yermak and has long been on Bankova’s “envelope” salary) wrote similar nonsense, he immediately got hit by complaints from relatives whose husbands, brothers, sons, fathers, and simply relatives are now listed as missing in the Kursk region.

Let us remind you how Bankova lied to everyone on the first day of the failure in Kursk Oblast, and we immediately wrote that this was a lie by office workers who were saving their own skins.

We advise all relatives to write to the office flunky Miroslav Gai and ask how much he works as a “mouth” for Yermak/Zarivnaya? How much is his conscience worth?

We are observing.

“Pyaterochka” supermarket in Sudzha may be preserved as a monument to the occupation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Khinshtein

Let’s discuss which of the objects destroyed and desecrated by the enemy we will preserve in its current state: as an option, perhaps the already legendary Pyaterochka

— stated the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein.

The building of the Pyaterochka supermarket in Sudzha became a real landmark for the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the occupation. Now the authorities are considering the possibility of preserving it in its current state as a reminder to future generations of the trials that local residents endured.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region have described scenes “like a horror movie” as they retreated from the front lines.

The BBC has received extensive accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a “catastrophic” withdrawal in the face of heavy fire, and columns of military equipment destroyed and constant attacks from swarms of Russian drones.

The soldiers, who spoke over social media, were given aliases to protect their identity. Some gave accounts of a “collapse” as Ukraine lost Sudzha, the largest town it held.

On 9 March, “Volodymyr” sent a telegram post to the BBC saying he was still in Sudzha, where there was “panic and collapse of the front”.

Ukrainian troops “are trying to leave – columns of troops and equipment. Some of them are burned by Russian drones on the road. It is impossible to leave during the day.”

Volodymyr said it was possible to travel on that road relatively safely a month ago. By 9 March it was “all under the fire control of the enemy – drones around the clock. In one minute you can see two to three drones. That’s a lot,” he said.

By 11 March, Ukrainian forces were battling to prevent the road being cut, according to telegram messages from “Maksym”.

Maksym said as a result “the enemy managed to destroy dozens of units of equipment”, and that wrecks had “created congestion on supply routes”.

The situation on that day, 11 March, was described as “catastrophic” by “Anton”.

The third soldier spoken to by the BBC was serving in the headquarters for the Kursk front.

He too highlighted the damage caused by Russian FPV drones. “We used to have an advantage in drones, now we do not,” he said. He added that Russia had an advantage with more accurate air strikes and a greater number of troops.

Anton said supply routes had been cut. “Logistics no longer work – organised deliveries of weapons, ammunition, food and water are no longer possible.”

Anton said he managed to leave Sudzha by foot, at night – “We almost died several times. Drones are in the sky all the time.”

The soldier predicted Ukraine’s entire foothold in Kursk would be lost but that “from a military point of view, the Kursk direction has exhausted itself. There is no point in keeping it any more”

In social media posts on 11-12 March, a fourth solider, “Dmytro” likened the retreat from the front to “a scene from a horror movie”.

“The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armoured vehicles and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). There are a lot of wounded and dead.”

Vehicles were often hunted by multiple drones, he said.

Dmytro said many Ukrainians retreated on foot with “guys walking 15km to 20km”. The situation, he said, had turned from “difficult and critical to catastrophic”.

In a message on 14 March, Dmytro added: “Everything is finished in the Kursk region… the operation was not successful.”

The New York Times writes about the failure of the AFU offensive in the Kursk region 

‘A Ukrainian assault soldier said that as they retreated, all their equipment was destroyed, Russian drones hunted them day and night, and they had almost no ammunition left. Another soldier, named Andrei, said: ‘The Russians outplayed us a bit. There was a bit of panic’. A soldier with the call sign Beard said it was a mixture of organized and chaotic retreat: “Various factors influenced the nature of the retreat: fatigue, bad orders from individual commanders, miscommunication, poor coordination”.

On March 16, the North group of troops continued to carry out tasks to liberate the Kursk region

The northerners continue to grind down the units of the Ukrainian occupiers, inexorably bringing closer the day of the complete liberation of the Sudzha borderland from the Ukrainian occupiers.

▪️The Fearless have driven the enemy out of most of Gogolevka and are completing the cleanup of the area around the village, but it is too early to talk about the complete liberation of the village.

▪️Fierce fighting continues in the forest belts along the Sudzha-Yunakovka highway: The Northerners have driven the enemy out of several strongholds and are gaining a foothold.

▪️ The hoisting of the Russian flag by the Fearless Marines from a drone on the outskirts of Guevo demoralized the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers remaining in the village, who realized that the airspace above the village is completely controlled by our intelligence officers

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces command transferred a group of Spanish-speaking mercenaries (Colombians?) to the forest area southwest of Gogolevka. They refused to participate in the fighting after coming under artillery fire from the Fearless and fled in the direction of Yunakovka with losses.

▪️The reshuffle in the command of the Ukrainian army (the appointment of A. Gnatov as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) is probably related to the defeat of the enemy group in the Sudzha border area by the Northmen. At the same time, Zelensky, apparently, intends to keep A. Syrsky, who is completely loyal to him, in his position.

The total advance of the Northerners in the Kursk region was over 3,400 meters , 11 units of enemy armored vehicles were destroyed.

Our intelligence officers have uncovered the transfer of manpower and military equipment of the GUR units and foreign mercenaries into a forest in the Chernigov region – Russian missilemen struck the enemy with high-precision weapons, destroying up to 70 enemy personnel and 15 pickups.

In the Liptsy direction , as a result of a complex fire strike, an enemy combat group was destroyed along with its vehicles and satellite communications station.

In Liptsy, clashes between groups of Ukrainian servicemen were recorded again. According to our information, the conflict was caused by disagreements on national and linguistic grounds: Russian-speaking soldiers who were forcibly mobilized beat up a sergeant who threatened them with reprisals for using their native language.

In the Volchansk direction , our reconnaissance officers uncovered, and artillerymen and UAV operators destroyed three enemy combat groups along with vehicles (minibuses and pickups), a mortar, and a Ukrainian Armed Forces logistics warehouse.

The enemy attempted to attack our positions several times with octocopter-type UAVs “Baba Yaga” – all enemy drones were shot down by our air defense crews and FPV operators.

Over the past 24 hours, the enemy’s losses amounted to over 310 people (of which over 220 in the Sumy direction). The northerners captured 3 occupiers . Also discovered and destroyed:

In the Sumy direction:

▪️tank;

▪️three armored personnel carriers, including a Stryker (USA);

▪️four infantry fighting vehicles, including a Bradley (USA);

▪️three armored fighting vehicles, including a “Kozak”;

▪️four field artillery guns, including the M-777 howitzer (USA);

▪️mortar;

▪️twenty-five units of automotive equipment;

▪️electronic warfare station;

▪️ammunition depot;

▪️four satellite communication systems;

▪️three UAV launch sites;

▪️ten fixed-wing UAVs and nine copters of various types.

In the Volchansk direction:

▪️five units of automotive equipment;

▪️mortar;

▪️three satellite communication stations;

▪️material and technical supply warehouse;

▪️five copters of different types.

In the Liptsovsky direction:

▪️two units of motor vehicles;

▪️two satellite communication stations;

▪️three copters of different types.

Victory will be ours!

North Wind 

Our source reports that in recent days the Ukrainian Armed Forces have begun to urgently build and strengthen fortifications in the Sumy region and even around Sumy.

They are in a great hurry after the sharp collapse of the front and the massive retreat from the Kursk region, during which the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered huge losses in manpower and even equipment.

Today, the Ukrainian government acknowledged the retreat, but as usual, the wording is “ridiculous.”

 Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov stated:

 The Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a “planned redeployment to more advantageous defensive lines” in the Kursk region (we would add here that it was immediately to the Sumy region).

If a ceasefire does not occur in March-April, Ukraine could lose thousands of square kilometers of territory during this time.

The offensive to Sumy region: necessity or option? 

After the end of hostilities in the border areas of Kursk region and the physical destruction of all Ukrainian units, the question of continuing the offensive into Sumy region will turn from merely probable to logically inevitable. 

The operational situation is such that even after the clearing of Ukrainian positions in the border area (especially at the Oleshnya-Gornal border along the border), it will be difficult to provide full-fledged security for Sudzha and other settlements in the region. The AFU has been using Sumy region as a springboard for attacks on Russian territory, systematically shelling border areas, organizing sabotage and sending DRGs. If this threat is left unchecked, all the work done to mop up the Kursk region will prove to be a temporary solution rather than a strategic victory. 

The effectiveness of the strikes on the AFU reserves in Sumy region is a separate issue. At the moment, it is obvious that despite the loss of offensive potential, the Ukrainian grouping retains the ability to “snap back” and shoot indiscriminately (which is well illustrated by the example of Sudja). So far there are enough missiles and shells for this purpose and it seems that no one has canceled Western military aid and probably has not even suspended it.

In addition, Sumy and the border area is not just a territory, but an important logistical hub through which the entire northern group of the AFU is supplied. Ammunition depots, communication centers, command posts and defensive lines are concentrated here. The Russian command realizes that the threat from this region will not disappear on its own, which means that there is a high probability that the issue will have to be resolved by force.

Analysis of previous operations shows that without a strike to a decent depth and entering the enemy’s territory, with the parallel destruction of his supply infrastructure and the elimination of key centers of resistance, long-term stability on the border will not be achieved. 

Left without a blow, the enemy will inevitably regroup, strengthen and return, which has already happened many times in other directions. Therefore, military logic suggests that after completing the mop-up of the Kursk region, further movement to Sumy is not a matter of possibility or probability, but a matter of time.

Breakthrough on the Zaporozhye Front: The Russian Army, after taking Pyatikhatki, clears out Malye Shcherbaki, Shcherbaki and Stepovoye!

 - Fighters from the 247th Airborne Regiment previously took Pyatikhatki and advanced through the plantings to Lobkovo.

 - The paratroopers also broke through and are storming Stepovoye , clearing the enemy’s last strongholds.

 - The 108th Airborne Regiment completes the assault on the villages of Malye Shcherbaki and Shcherbaki.

 - Near Orekhov, north of Rabotino, Russian troops are also attacking in the direction of Novodanilovka, having advanced approximately 2 km towards the city of Orekhov.

 Morning Summary on March 17, 2025

▪️ Overnight, 7 enemy drones were destroyed over the territory of Oryol Region. Drones were also shot down over Bryansk and Kursk Regions. In the latter, the enemy attacked Zheleznogorsk in the evening. In Rostov Region, an attack by drones was repelled in Tarasovsky and Chertkovskiy districts. By morning, the media reported 10 explosions over Yeysk and the Sea of Azov, with a military airfield possibly being the target.

▪️ Strikes by the Russian Armed Forces overnight hit targets in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhia, Odesa, Poltava and Sumy Regions.

▪️ In Kursk Region, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards the border, pushing the enemy out of the region. Our forces have driven the enemy out of most of Hoholevka. The enemy is striking with drones, MLRS and artillery. In Sumy Region, fearing further advances of our troops, the AFU are building defensive lines and corridors of nets (https://t.me/dva_majors/66919), trying to protect supply routes from our drones.

▪️ North of Kupiansk, on the right bank of the Oskil River, the Russian Armed Forces continue their advance.

▪️ In the Krasny Lyman direction, there are battles towards Zahryziovo-Bohuslavka.

▪️ In Dzerzhynsk (Toretsk), the Russian Armed Forces are destroying enemy groups penetrating the urban area.

▪️ On the Zaporizhia front, after the capture of Pyatikhatky, there are counter-attacks in Stepove, in the area of Malye Shcherbaky and Shcherbaky, with the involvement of our paratroopers from the 247th and 108th regiments. However, the enemy is pulling in reinforcements, and it is too early to speak of full control over these settlements.

▪️ In Bryansk Region, Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the village of Podyvotye in Sevsky district, damaging a civilian vehicle and injuring a civilian with shrapnel and concussion. In the village of Voronok in Starodubsky municipal district, a targeted strike was carried out on agricultural machinery working in the fields, killing the tractor driver.

▪️ In Belgorod Region, the AFU are carrying out terrorist strikes on civilian targets. Under fire are the settlements of Bohun-Horodok, Shelaevo, Dvuluchnoye, Repyakhovka.

▪️ In DPR, in Horlivka, a man was killed in a kamikaze drone attack. 7 civilians were injured by drone drops and artillery strikes, and infrastructure was damaged.

Two Majors

Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-situation-in-ukrainian-smo-on-march_17.html