Two Ukrainian missiles and 27 drones were destroyed over Russia’s Kursk region, the governor of the embattled Kursk region that borders Ukraine said on Sunday. Ukrainian troops stormed across Russia’s western border into Kursk on August 6 and seized a chunk of territory.
It was not immediately clear what missiles were destroyed. Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov did not provide further details in a post on social media.
The Ukrainian military claims that it had destroyed a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system in Kursk.
Moscow launched waves of counter-assaults and has retaken at least 40% of the captured territory, in Kursk, since then, but Kyiv still controls about 800 square kilometres of the region, a senior Ukrainian military source said on Sunday.
Russians have been able to achieve the results without having committed North Korean troops to battle. Most of the North Korean troops sent to the Kursk region in support of Russia remain in training as of now.
Simultaneously, Russian forces make threatening advances towards Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Ukraine seeks to disrupt Russian supply lines with strikes deep inside Russia enabled by easing of curbs on the use of Western-supplied missiles.
The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared 2-1/2 years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War Two and caught Moscow unprepared.
With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any future peace negotiations.
But Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian General Staff source reiterated that about 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived in the Kursk region in support of Russia, but that the bulk of their forces were still finalising their training. Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defence treaty earlier this year.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
