Ukraine suffering 'colossal' losses in Kursk - Putin --Washington ordered Kiev to hold on "at any cost" until the U.S. elections, the Russian president has said | 7 Nov 2024 | Ukraine has lost more than 30,000 troops in just three months of fighting since its large-scale incursion into Russia's Kursk Region, President Vladimir Putin told the Valdai Forum on Thursday, noting that the Ukrainian people are paying a "terrible price" for Kiev's decision to do Washington's bidding. Kiev launched an incursion into the region on August 6, deploying some of its best-equipped units. The force was contained by Russian troops and is steadily being pushed back, suffering immense losses, according to Moscow. "...[I]n just three months of fighting, the Kiev regime suffered more casualties than in the whole of last year -- over 30,000," Putin said at the 21st annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi. "Why are they sitting there, bearing such losses? Because they were ordered -- from overseas -- to hold on at any cost, at least until the U.S. elections, to show that all the efforts of the Democratic administration to support Ukraine were not in vain," the Russian leader said.