Ukraine Clings To Sliver Of Russia, Expecting Trump To Push For Talks

In Russia's Kursk region just north of here, Russian assaults are so intense that their infantrymen sometimes step on the bodies of fallen comrades, according to Ukrainian soldiers opposing them there.

- lan Lovett

Russian glide bombs weighing one ton crash onto Ukrainian supply roads. Ukraine launched a flurry of Western missiles in the opposite direction last week, apparently injuring a North Korean general.

"They're assaulting all the time - day, night," said Geniy, a 30-year-old battalion commander with Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade.

The battle for control of Russia's Kursk region has reached an intensity rarely seen during two years of war, as each side tries to strengthen its position before President-elect Donald Trump, who wants both sides to negotiate, takes office in January.

Moscow has deployed some 45,000 troops to the region, according to Ukrainian officials, including some of its best forces who are attacking in nonstop waves. Despite enormous casualties, the strategy appears to be working: In recent weeks, Russia has retaken nearly half the territory that Ukraine seized during its August incursion. Analysts say Russia may be planning an even bigger offensive there.

But Ukraine has also sent many of its best brigades to Kursk. In addition, President Biden's decision last week to allow Kyiv to fire long-range American missiles into Russia has given Ukrainian troops a much-needed boost and a capability that could disrupt Moscow's supply and command lines.

Trump's pick to be national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.), said that he had met with his counterpart in the Biden administration, and on Sunday expressed some support for the recent decision to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, as well as land mines.

"For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other, they're wrong," Waltz said, speaking on Fox. "We are hand-in-glove, we are one team with the United States in this transition," he said.