Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a new attack in the Kursk region, an area of western Russia from which Russian troops have been trying to eject Ukrainian forces since August of last year.
Ukrainian troops broke across the border in a surprise incursion on August 6 and have managed to hold on to a chunk of territory there which could provide Kyiv with an important bargaining chip in potential peace talks.
Defence Ministry of Russia said its forces were beating back the Ukrainian forces but some reports from Russian military bloggers suggested that Russia had come under heavy pressure.
Andriy Yermak, the 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, the head of Ukraine’s official Centre Against Disinformation, wrote on social media that Russian troops were attacked in several places.
The statement from Russia said Ukraine attacked around 0600 GMT near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a mine-clearing vehicle and 12 armoured combat vehicles with paratroops.
“Artillery and aviation of the North group of (Russian) forces defeated the assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” it added.
The statement said two Ukrainian attacks had been repelled. Reuters could not independently verify the situation on the ground.
Reports from Russia’s widely read war bloggers, who support Moscow’s war in Ukraine but have often reported critically on failings and setbacks, indicated that the Ukrainian assault had put Russian forces at least temporarily on the defensive.
“Despite strong pressure from the enemy, our units are heroically holding 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 had gained control of the situation after initial “mistakes” and encircled Ukrainian forces north of a highway leading to the regional capital Kursk.
Acting Kursk governor Alexander Khinshtein told people to trust only official sources, and warned displaced residents not to return to unsafe areas without permission.
By committing some of its most effective units to the Kursk offensive, Ukraine has, however, weakened the defence of its own eastern regions. Russian forces have advanced since August at their most rapid pace since 2022.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
