Reuters reported that on March 8, a senior Russian military commander said that the Moscow army launched a large-scale attack to retake large areas in the western part of Kursk province from Ukrainian forces.
Open source maps this week show that the Ukrainian army is gradually losing its position, almost surrounded by Russian forces.
Pro-Russian military blogger Two Majors said that the Russian army has begun advancing into Sudzha - a town about 9.5 km from the Ukrainian border. The Kiev military is facing a "nearly critical" situation, blogger Two Majors wrote on Telegram.
Also on March 8, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Russian army had retaken control of three villages in Kursk, including Viktorovka, Nikolaevka and Staraya Sorochina.
In another development on March 8, the Russian military continued to deploy an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and ballistic missile attack in the city of Dobropillia in eastern Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Home Affairs, the airstrike killed at least 14 people and injured 37 others, including five children. The number of damaged facilities includes 8 high-rise buildings and 30 vehicles.
Dobropillia was home to 28,000 people before the conflict in Ukraine broke out. This is an area located in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, 22 km north of the front line of the important center of Pokrovsk.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Home Affairs said that another Russian military UAV airstrike that took place on the same day in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine killed three people and injured seven others.
In a Facebook post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to continue doing everything possible to protect people's lives, strengthen air defense systems and increase sanctions to hinder Moscow's military funding sources.
Also according to Reuters, on March 7, Russian forces damaged Ukraine's energy and gas infrastructure in an airstrike.
This is considered the largest missile attack since Washington temporarily stopped sharing intelligence with Kiev to put pressure on Ukraine in the context of US President Donald Trump seeking to quickly end the conflict.
According to military analysts, the US temporary suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing could weaken Ukraine's air defense system as the country is running low on advanced missiles and struggling to effectively monitor attacks.
