Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin admits situation in Kursk ‘very difficult’ amid new Kyiv offensive – UK Times

Russian president Vladimir Putin said the situation in Kursk oblast is “very difficult”, as the region slipped under a fresh round of Ukrainian attack yesterday.

Talking to the regional governor of Kursk Alexander Khinshtein in Moscow, Mr Putin said: “It is exactly two months today since we met here last time, and I instructed you to organise work in the Kursk Region. The situation there is very difficult.”

He added: “And the most important thing that I asked you to pay attention to was reaching out to people and identifying their concerns and problems. Indeed, there are many problems there.”

Mr Putin’s remarks come as Moscow said its troops repelled a new Ukrainian counteroffensive in Russia’s western Kursk region yesterday.

As missiles, drones and “glide bombs” terrorise the residents of Zaporizhzhia near the eastern front, it does not seem possible that any semblance of normal life can carry on.

But, seven metres underground, the earth has been hollowed out to create a fully fledged school for 1,000 pupils. With only discrete entrances and a ventilation unit above ground, students rotate through the reinforced bunker daily.

As missiles, drones and “glide bombs” terrorise the residents of Zaporizhzhia near the eastern front, it does not seem possible that any semblance of normal life can carry on.

But, seven metres underground, the earth has been hollowed out to create a fully fledged school for 1,000 pupils. With only discrete entrances and a ventilation unit above ground, students rotate through the reinforced bunker daily.

The US Justice Department under president Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.

The effort, launched during Democratic president Joe Biden’s administration, was designed to strain the finances of wealthy associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin and punish those facilitating sanctions and export control violations.

A memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, issued on Wednesday during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding to combating drug cartels and international gangs.

“This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach,” Ms Bondi wrote in the directive, adding that resources now devoted to enforcing sanctions and seizing the assets of oligarchs will be redirected to countering cartels.

Russia’s defence ministry said its troops repelled a new Ukrainian counteroffensive in Russia’s western Kursk region yesterday.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles launched eight waves of attacks near the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.

The Institute for the Study of War cited Russian military bloggers as saying the new Ukrainian incursion advanced as much as 5km into Kursk.

“As of 2100 (1800 GMT), units of the North group of forces have thwarted an attempted counterattack by the Ukrainian armed forces aimed at the settlements of Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok,” the ministry said on Telegram.

The settlements were under Russian control, the ministry said. It claimed that the Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses, including more than 200 servicemen and dozens of vehicles.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied the reports of a new incursion.

Ukrainian forces have launched a new assault inside Russia’s Kursk oblast, expanding its incursion into Russian territory further.

Kyiv’s new incursion comes on the six-month anniversary of its first attack inside Kursk territory.

The incursion was reported by the Russian ministry of defence, which said the Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles had launched several waves of attacks near the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.

The troops launched a “new series of battalion-sized mechanised assaults in Kursk Oblast and advanced up to five kilometres behind Russian lines southeast of Sudzha, Kursk Oblast,” the Institute for the Study of War said.

It cited Russian military bloggers who said that the Ukrainian forces attacked with 30 to 50 armoured vehicles.

At least eight Ukrainian children captured from their families by officials in the Russia-annexed and controlled Crimea peninsula and placed in state orphanages have now returned home, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Darina Zarivna, an adviser to president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said the children had been seized while receiving treatment in hospital and were rescued as part of the Bring Kids Back programme.

The kids have been subjected to bullying in an orphanage and forced to take part in pro-Russian patriotism exercises and made to handle weapons and prepare for war, she said.

“Their story is an example of the systemic harshness of the occupiers. They were forcibly taken from their mothers during a hospital stay and (the mothers) were obliged under threat to turn them over to an orphanage,” Ms Zarivna wrote on Telegram.

“All this is a part of Russian policy aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity.”

It is not immediately clear how the children were rescued or where they were now.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will lead Ukraine’s delegation at the Munich Security Conference next week, officials in Kyiv said.

The talks will be attended by the US vice president JD Vance and Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said yesterday.

Previously a regular summit for global international security discussions, the Munich summit has gained new significance amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and other challenges.

Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, told The Associated Press the Ukrainian delegation will present the country’s position on ending the war and their views on how “a long and lasting peace” can be achieved.

“It’s necessary that the leaders and the experts in politics who will be in Munich realise that this is momentum,” he said about Ukraine’s message for the event.

“That we are very near to really ending this war by a just and lasting peace, but (it’s) necessary to be together – not to give Russia an opportunity to divide the world, to divide partners.”