Sumy, Ukraine
CNN
—

The dawn assault in Russia’s Kursk region did not even result in a shootout, but nevertheless betrayed the intensity of the battle on Kremlin territory. Five Russians advanced into the gray Sunday dawn but, thermal drone footage shows, were killed or injured by a drone as they tried to hide in the tree line.

“I have the impression that (the Russians) have an unlimited number of people,” said Oleksandr, unit commander of the 225th Assault Battalion, describing the clash from a cafe in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, 11 hours later.

“They send out groups and almost no one is left alive. And the next day, the groups leave again. It seems that the next Russians don’t know what happened to the previous Russians. They are going there, towards the unknown. No one tells them about it and no one comes back.

Oleksandr and the two colleagues he sits with are hard of hearing because of the incessant bombing. They offer a rare glimpse into Ukraine’s occupation of Kursk, which lasted nearly four months.

The August invasion marked a rare tactical success and strategic gain for kyiv, although the use of large numbers of troops and armor in the assault led to criticism that shortages created by the invasion had contributed to Russia’s advance on the eastern front of Donbass.

Supporters of Operation Kursk suggest it has provided kyiv with vital leverage for any future peace talks – perhaps initiated by US President-elect Donald Trump – meaning Ukraine must retain a foot in the region at least until spring.

Oleksandr expressed confidence in his unit’s ability to hold on, but he expressed less certainty about why. “I don’t know what the goal really is,” he said. “Maybe we should walk around here for four months, turn around and leave, like… If the goal is to conserve it to a certain extent, we will.”

When asked what his message for Trump would be, Oleksandr demanded that the West respect the security guarantees he gave to Ukraine in exchange for Kiev giving up nuclear weapons, in a 1994 treaty known as the Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States gave assurances to Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan that they would renounce their Soviet-era nuclear weapons.

“You took away our nuclear weapons? You promised us your roof,” Oleksandr said, using a slang word for his protection. “Keep your word. We are being massacred, and you are still trying to play games, to defend your interests. We had to give everything to end this war in two days. Who will believe the words of the United States or England, who piss themselves in front of Russia? Forgive my English,” he said, laughing, to explain his rudeness.

Recent Russian attacks in his Kursk region have proven both ineffective and costly, he said. Separately, Ukrainian officials have admitted that 40 percent of the territory they conquered in late summer has since been reclaimed by the Russians. Oleksandr’s unit hasn’t slept for three days, he said, and hasn’t left the front for eight months, and took part in fierce battles in the Ukrainian towns of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar.

He said the Russian troops the Ukrainians faced at Kursk were a mix of well-trained paratroopers from the 76th Brigade, but also less organized Chechens and African mercenaries. But he saw no sign of the 12,000 North Korean troops the Pentagon said were sent to Kursk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also told Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Sunday that some North Koreans had been killed by Ukrainian forces and would ultimately be used as “cannon fodder” by the Kremlin.

“When we catch them or see a body,” Oleksandr said, “then I will know for sure that they are there.”

Three weeks earlier, his unit had faced an assault by 40 armored vehicles and about 300 infantrymen, he said. His drone commander, callsign “JS” for Java Script, said the unit killed 50 Russians that day. “The vehicles that managed to pass unloaded the infantry,” says JS, “then we finished off the infantry. And this lasted almost 24 hours, without sleeping, and the next day we eliminated those who had managed to hide from the drone bombardment on the first day.”