Kiev may have found an intelligence gold mine with the capture of Kursk Station

After Kyiv’s troops crossed the border into the Kursk town of Sudzha last week, Ukraine may have been able to gather important information about Russia’s logistics, according to open-source intelligence reports that tracked the incursion.

The Sudzha station is part of a larger network connecting Kursk to other places in Russia. It could be a “gold mine” for Kyiv to decode Moscow’s logistics chains through timetables and internal communications, according to a report posted on X. Several other reports have made similar arguments, saying Ukraine could secure access to Russian Railways’ computer systems based at the station.

More than a week ago, thousands of Ukrainian troops entered Kursk, launching the largest advance into Russian territory since the start of the all-out war nearly two and a half years ago. Moscow responded with force, sending reinforcements to the border, while Kyiv’s fighters advanced rapidly. The town of Sudzha was one of the first targets.

Footage released last week by Ukrainian activist and fundraiser Serhii Sternenko purports to show Kyiv’s drones attacking a Russian train “used for military logistics” to supply Russian troops fighting in the northeastern Kharkiv region. A journalist with the US-backed Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe project located the footage at Sudzha train station.

The station is located northeast of the capital Sudzha. According to the Russian authorities, several train stations, including in the city and in Korenovo – about 32 kilometers northwest of Sudzha – have been closed to passenger traffic since August 8.

Newsweek The Russian Defense Ministry asked for comment via email.

A Ukrainian soldier in the Sumy region above Kursk told the BBC that when Ukrainian troops crossed the border they “almost immediately reached the western outskirts” of Sudzha.

The Ukrainian military currently controls 74 settlements in Kursk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, as Kiev authorities are more openly acknowledging the invasion after days of silence. Ukrainian army chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday that Kiev controls just under 400 square miles of Kursk. There are doubts among Western analysts whether Ukraine has full control of that area.

A map from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows that Kyiv reportedly controlled the area around the station, but the US think tank could not confirm this.

Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk Region, said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that Ukraine had taken control of 28 settlements where 2,000 residents were missing. More than 120,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk, according to Smirnov, and the neighboring Belgorod Region also began moving residents away from the Ukrainian border earlier this week.

“I’ll say it quite frankly: the crisis is not over yet,” Smirnov said on Tuesday. The incumbent regional governor’s candor contrasts with rhetoric from Moscow, where officials said Russia had stopped Ukraine’s advance.

Russia’s influential community of military bloggers has also pointed out that Kyiv has made further advances in the region in recent days. A report early Wednesday said Ukraine had taken control of high-rise buildings in Sudzha and “set up firing and sniper positions on the roofs of the buildings.”

Kyiv has stated that it is “not interested in seizing the territory of the Kursk region” but that the attack is aimed at protecting Ukrainian territory from destructive Russian air strikes. It is not yet clear how exactly Ukraine will proceed with its offensive and what the Kyiv military command sees as the exact targets.