Ukraine has launched a fresh counterattack in the Russian border region of Kursk as it looks to gain the most territory it can ahead of possible peace negotiations – with US president-elect Donald Trump saying he wants to end the war as soon as possible.
The attack started over the weekend, with unverified footage circulated by Russian military bloggers showing a column of Ukrainian tanks and armoured personnel carriers heading towards the village of Berdin, a small area outside of what Ukraine currently controls in Kursk.
Kyiv’s military has not officially acknowledged a fresh offensive, months after an initial incursion that caught Russia off guard and allowed Ukraine to capture a swathe of Russian territory in the region. The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Centre for Countering Disinformation, an official body, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk.
Russian military bloggers, who are under the control of the Kremlin but sometimes speak more openly about the difficulties facing Moscow’s troops, suggested on the Telegram messenger app that some of their forces were “worried” about the assault.
“The morning in the Kursk region is starting off worryingly again. It is obvious that yesterday’s failure will not stop the enemy and he will try to impose his will on us again today,” wrote one blogger, Yuri Podolyaka.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank that maps the frontline, said Ukraine had made advances into the southern outskirts of Berdin. It is to the northeast of the city of Sudzha, the most significant area held by Ukraine since the start of the first assault five months ago.
The ISW added that Ukrainian forces appeared to be attacking “in at least three areas”, including towards Berdin. A second attack on the right flank appears to be directed towards the village of Pushkarnoye, east of Sudzha, while the third assault seems to be on the either side of the Ukrainian-held area, around Korenevo on the western flank.
The reports come a day after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces had suffered significant losses in a battle for the village of Makhnovka, on the southeastern outskirts of Sudzha. He said they had suffered hundreds of casualties, citing information from the Ukrainian military chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Other Russian military bloggers suggested the attacks were being conducted with hundreds of Ukrainian troops in a heavily mechanised assault.
They speculated that these attacks could be attempts to divert Russian forces, possibly from Moscow’s creeping advance in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Russia’s defence ministry claimed control over the town of Kurakhove in Donetsk on Monday, after months of heavy fighting.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine after nearly three years of war, but Ukraine’s success in seizing and retaining a slice of Russian territory in Kursk could boost its negotiating position as both sides prepare for possible peace talks this year.
Both have been striving to improve their battlefield positions before Mr Trump is sworn in on 20 January. Mr Trump has repeatedly said he will bring a quick end to the war, “within 24 hours”, without saying how.
Russian forces, with the help of around 11,000 North Korean troops, have been successfully shrinking Ukraine’s partial hold on the Kursk region since Kyiv launched the daring cross-border assault on 6 August last year.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken described Ukraine’s partial control over the Russian border region as key to any possible future negotiations with Russia during a visit to South Korea over the weekend.
“The positions of the armed forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region are very important, because, of course, this is what will matter for any negotiations that may take place in the coming year,” he said.
