Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine launched a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
The military said in a statement that efforts to dismantle the Ukrainian attack group were ongoing. Ukrainian officials also said the operation was underway.
Ukraine invaded Russia’s Kursk region for the first time in August last year and seized large tracts of territory.
Russian forces have made huge gains in the region in recent months, pushing back the Ukrainians but failing to completely dislodge them.
The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement on Telegram on Sunday: “At around 9 a.m. Moscow time, in order to prevent the Russian army from attacking in the direction of Kursk, the enemy launched a counterattack by two commandos. Tanks, an anti-obstacle vehicle and 12 “An armored fighting vehicle.”
Several Russian military bloggers provided more details about the attack, saying it was launched from the Ukrainian base in Souza towards the villages of Beldin and Bolshoy Soldaskoye, which are on the way to Kur The regional center on the way to the city of Skopje.
Andrei Yermak, director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said that “good news has come from the Kursk region” and that Russia “got what it deserved.”
Andrei Kovalenko, Ukraine’s top anti-disinformation official, said in a statement telegraph “Russians in Kursk are feeling very anxious as they are being attacked from multiple directions, which takes them by surprise,” Sunday’s post said.
It’s unclear whether the offensive is large enough to lead to any significant changes on the front lines.
Russian blogger Yury Podolyaka said the operation may have been a diversion, while another blogger, Alexander Kots, did not rule out that the main attack could be launched elsewhere .
Kiev’s army is reportedly suffering from manpower shortages and has been retreating steadily in eastern Ukraine in recent months as Russian forces advance.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched another drone attack on Ukraine overnight.
It was allegedly shot down in the Kiev, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkov, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhitomir and Khmelnytsky regions 61 drones
The air force said there were no direct attacks, but some houses in the Kharkiv area were damaged by intercepted drones.
In November, Ukraine reported that its troops were fighting North Korean troops in the Kursk region.
The presence of North Korean soldiers came in response to a surprise attack by Ukrainian forces across the border in August that penetrated 18 miles (30 kilometers) into Russian territory.
Moscow evacuated nearly 200,000 people from border areas, with President Vladimir Putin denouncing Ukraine’s offensive as a “major provocation.”
Two weeks later, Ukraine’s top commander claimed control of more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory and 93 villages.
Some of these territories have been recovered by Russia.
