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

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian special forces crept miles through a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk,