Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a new offensive in the Kursk region, an area in western Russia that Russian forces have been trying to oust Ukrainian forces from for the past five months.
Ukrainian forces stormed the border in a surprise incursion on August 6 and were able to retain part of the territory there that could provide Kiev with an important bargaining chip in potential peace talks.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its forces were repelling Ukrainian forces, but some reports from Russian military bloggers indicated that the Russian side was under intense pressure.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, posted on Telegram that there was “good news” from Kursk, adding: “Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the official Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, wrote in a telegram that Russian forces were attacked in several places.
The Russian statement said that Ukraine attacked around 0600 GMT near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a mine-clearing vehicle and 12 armored combat vehicles equipped with paratroopers.
She added, “The artillery and aviation of the Northern Group of Forces (Russian) defeated the attacking group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
The statement said that two Ukrainian attacks were repelled. Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.
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Reports from widely read Russian war bloggers, who support Moscow’s war in Ukraine but are often critical of its failures and setbacks, have suggested that the Ukrainian offensive has put Russian forces, at least temporarily, on the defensive.
“Despite strong pressure from the enemy, our units heroically hold the line,” the Operativnye Svodki (Operations Reports) channel said in the first hours after the attack.
In a later update, another influential blogger, Yuriy Podolyak, said Russian units had taken control of the situation after initial “mistakes” and surrounded Ukrainian forces north of the highway leading to the regional capital, Kursk.
Acting Governor of Kursk, Alexander Khinshtein, called on people to trust only official sources, and warned displaced residents against returning to unsafe areas without permission.
Ukrainian and Western assessments indicate that about 11,000 soldiers from North Korea, Russia’s ally, were deployed in the Kursk region to support Russian forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
“In yesterday’s and today’s battles near only one village, Makhnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
He did not provide specific details. A battalion can vary in size but generally consists of several hundred troops.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in response to a question during his marathon annual phone call last month that Russia would certainly expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk, but he refused to specify a date for that.
Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, but Ukraine’s unexpected success in annexing and retaining part of Russian territory could strengthen its negotiating position as the two sides prepare for possible peace talks this year.
Both are seeking to improve their positions on the battlefield before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20. Trump has repeatedly said he would bring the war to a quick end, but without explaining how.
However, by committing some of its most effective units to the Kursk offensive, Ukraine has weakened its defense of its eastern regions where Russian forces have advanced since August at their fastest pace since 2022.
