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00:00official source saying that Ukraine has lost 40 percent of the hold it had on Russian territory
00:06in the region of Kursk. Now this was bound to happen even by Ukrainian standards. At the height
00:13of the offensive in Kursk region the Ukrainian army controlled over 1300 square kilometers of
00:20land and within four months Russia has managed to reclaim 40 percent of this land. This didn't
00:26come as a surprise for the Ukrainian side as I was mentioning simply because the Ukrainian army
00:31is outnumbered. It is outnumbered in men and equipment on the eastern front line and it's
00:38also outnumbered now that Russia has brought 59,000 men to counter-attack to try and regain
00:46its territory within the Kursk region. Now what's interesting is that the Ukrainian forces there
00:52still hold over 800 square kilometers. This is not just one settlement. This is not just
00:57one small village. It is still a consequent amount of land and this is important for Ukraine because
01:04Ukraine never had any intention to keep that territory for itself to proceed to occupation
01:11and annexation the way Russia does on Ukrainian territory. Indeed Ukraine has launched this
01:16operation to show that if there would be a buffer zone for example where this didn't have to be on
01:22Ukrainian territory it could also well be in that Kursk region for example or if we are heading to
01:28negotiations Ukraine would have something to negotiate the return of its own territory for
01:36it would it could be able to hand back this Kursk territory in exchange for occupied territory
01:42illegally occupied territory here in Ukraine