Ukraine says forces conducting 'new offensive actions' in Russia's Kursk region

January 8 ------ Ukraine said its forces were "commencing new offensive actions" in Russia's western Kursk region, in its first substantive remarks two days after Russian reports of a renewed Ukrainian thrust in the area. Ukraine first seized part of the Kursk region in a surprise incursion last August, and it has held territory there for five months despite losing some ground. The Russian defense ministry said on Sunday that Kyiv had launched a new counter-attack. 

On Tuesday, Ukraine's general staff, which keeps a tight lid on information out of the area for the security of its operation there, said Kyiv's military had hit a Russian command post near the Kursk region's settlement of Belaya. The strike and other recent operations in the region were coordinated with Ukrainian ground forces who "are currently commencing new offensive operations" against Russian troops, it said. The military later edited out any mention of a new attack in the Telegram statement, replacing the phrase with the much vaguer "combat operations". It provided no explanation. 

Russia's defense ministry, which has characterized the Ukrainian counter-attack as bungled over the last two days, said in a statement that its troops had carried out strikes on Ukrainian units in the Kursk region. It listed six locations where it said its forces had defeated Ukrainian brigades, and seven more including one on the Ukrainian side of the border where it said it had carried out strikes on Ukrainian troops and equipment. The apparent escalation in the fighting in the Kursk region comes at a critical time for Ukraine, whose outnumbered and outgunned troops are struggling to repel Russian advances in the east. Capturing and retaining a slice of Russian territory in the Kursk region has given Ukraine a bargaining chip in potential peace talks, as both sides fight to improve their battlefield positions before Donald Trump's return to the White House. 

Source: reuters.com