Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in the Russian border region of Kursk, pushing several miles through its southeastern flank, it has been reported.
The attack, which was claimed by the Russian defence ministry but has not been acknowledged by Ukraine, was reported exactly six months after Kyiv launched its initial cross-border assault into Kursk last August.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank tracking the frontline between Russia and Ukraine, said there was geolocated footage showing Ukrainian forces had advanced towards the villages of Makhnovka and Cherkasskaya Konopelka, both of which are southeast of Sudzha, the main city controlled by Kyiv’s troops.
The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday that they had thwarted attempts by Ukraine to take Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok, which is four km beyond Cherkasskaya Konopelka. The three towns of Makhnovka, Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok are located along a line stretching southeast from Sudzha.
They claimed Ukraine had attacked with two mechanised battalions’ worth of armoured vehicles.
Ukraine’s military did not mention the counterattack in their latest operational update. They wrote only that Ukrainian forces had “repelled 13 attacks” and that “five more attacks are ongoing”.
Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, admitted in a conversation with the Kursk governor Alexander Khinshtein that the “situation there is very difficult”.
“It is exactly two months today since we met here last time, and I instructed you to organise work in the Kursk Region,” he said, during the meeting in Moscow. “The situation there is very difficult.
“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.”
Russian military bloggers, who speak more openly about the situation on the frontline but ultimately do so in an online space moderated by the Kremlin, expressed concern that Ukraine’s latest advance could compromise Russian positions south of Sudzha, in the town of Guyevo.
Russian forces had been fighting alongside roughly 11,000 North Korean troops but South Korean intelligence on Friday confirmed Ukrainian reports that Pyongyang had withdrawn its troops after heavy losses.
South Korea said around 300 North Korean troops had been killed and a further 2,700 had been wounded. It is unclear whether additional soldiers will return to the fighting in Kursk.
