Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a new attack in the Kursk region, a region in western Russia from where Russian troops have been trying to expel Ukrainian forces for five months.
Ukrainian troops crossed the border in a surprise incursion on August 6 and managed to hold on to part of the territory, which could provide kyiv with an important bargaining chip in possible peace talks.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces were pushing back Ukrainian forces, but some reports from Russian military bloggers suggested the Russian side had come under heavy pressure.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, posted on Telegram that there was “good news” from Kursk, adding: “Russia is getting what it deserves.” »
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s official Center Against Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that Russian troops were attacked in several locations.
The Russian statement said Ukraine attacked around 0600 GMT near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a mine clearance vehicle and 12 armored fighting vehicles accompanied by paratroopers.
“The artillery and aviation of the Northern Group of (Russian) forces defeated the assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” the statement added.
The statement said two Ukrainian attacks were repelled. Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.
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Reports from Russia’s most widely read war bloggers, who support Moscow’s war in Ukraine but have often criticized failures and setbacks, indicated that the Ukrainian assault had put Russian forces, at least temporarily, on the defensive.
“Despite strong enemy pressure, our units heroically held the line,” the Operativnye Svodki (Operational Reports) channel said in the first hours after the attack.
In a later update, another influential blogger, Yuri Podolyak, said Russian units took control of the situation after initial “mistakes” and surrounded Ukrainian forces north of a highway leading to the capital regional Kursk.
Acting Kursk Governor Alexander Khinstein asked people to rely only on official sources and warned displaced residents not to return to dangerous areas without permission.
According to Ukrainian and Western assessments, some 11,000 troops from Russia’s ally North Korea have been deployed to the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday: “In yesterday’s and today’s battles near a single village, Makhnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of soldiers North Korean infantry and Russian paratroopers. »
He did not provide specific details. A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred soldiers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in response to a question during his annual phone marathon last month that Russia would permanently drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, but declined to set a date when that would happen.
Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, but Ukraine’s unexpected success in conquering and retaining part of Russian territory could strengthen its negotiating position as the two sides prepare for possible talks of peace this year.
Both are working to improve their battlefield positions ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on January 20. Trump has repeatedly said he would end the war quickly, but has not said how.
By committing some of its most effective units to the Kursk offensive, however, Ukraine has weakened the defense of its own eastern regions where Russian forces have advanced since August at their fastest pace since 2022.
