Ukraine has launched a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, according to the Kremlin.
The attack looks to be an effort to seize new territory after Ukrainian troops swept across the border in a shock offensive in the same region in August, claiming control of almost 500 sq miles (around 1,300 sq km) and taking hundreds of prisoners of war.
Since then, Kremlin has resumed some of its own lands, but has fought to expel invading troops, even deploying thousands of North Korean troops in recent weeks.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has spoken in the past of his plans to hold on to the territory and use it as a negotiation chip in possible peace conversations.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said Ukraine launched the attack on Sunday morning with an assault group consisting of two tanks, a mine clearing vehicle, and twelve 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, claiming two Ukrainian attacks had been repelled.
In a Telegram statement, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukraine Counter-Information Center, said: “The defense forces are actively working. Array” “
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukraine Presidential Office, said: “Kursk region, News: Russia is getting what it deserves. “
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Reports from Russia’s influential war bloggers, who aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine but have reported critically on disorder and setbacks, have reported that the new Ukrainian attack has put Russian forces on the defensive.
“Despite the enemy’s tension, our sets heroically maintain the line,” said the Operativye Svodki channel (operational reports).
He said artillery and small arms battles were taking place, and Ukraine was Western-armored cars to bring in giant numbers of infantry.
The Ministry of Defense and bloggers said the fight was concentrated just north of a road that extends from Sudzha, near the border, to Kursk, the regional capital.
One prominent blogger, Yuri Podolyak, said this was most likely a Ukrainian distraction manoeuvre, possibly to prepare a strike on Glushkovo, further west, and he urged civilians there and in another town, Korenevo, to evacuate.
The offensive follows otherwise for Ukraine. Since the raid of wonder in Russia in August, the army has been assaulted through a moral and one in the middle of a dam of Russian attacks.