Zelenskiy Says Ukrainian Troops Holding On In Kursk After Russian Claims Of Gains

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were holding off attempts by Russian troops to expel them from the Kursk region, following a 24-hour period in which Russian shelling killed at least five Ukrainian civilians.

"As for the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the defined lines," Zelenskiy said on October 12 in his nightly video address following Russian claims of advances in the area.

Ukrainian troops made quick and shocking gains after they launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August, but Russia has announced the recapture of several villages, including the latest two on October 11.

Reports on the ground cannot be independently verified.

In other areas, including in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions, Zelenskiy said following a meeting with military commander General Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukrainian forces were "facing very difficult conditions and fierce enemy actions."

Officials said earlier that Russian shelling had killed five Ukrainian civilians over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

In Donetsk, three people were killed -- two in Bohoyavlenka and one in Ivanopil, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram, adding that another eight people were wounded across the region.

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In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, a 38-year-old man was killed by Russian shelling in Kozachia Lopan and a 67-year-old man was killed in Kupyansk, regional authorities reported.

Russian troops also shelled populated areas of the Kherson region, including Kherson city, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported, adding that a medical facility, an administrative building, a cellular tower and residential buildings were damaged in the city.

Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson in November 2022, forcing Russian troops to retreat east of the Dnieper River, but Moscow's forces continue to strike the city and its surrounding region from across the river, causing casualties and damage to civilian and energy infrastructure.

In the southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, two women and an 11-year-old girl were wounded by Russian shelling early on October 12, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Separately, Ukraine's air force said that air defenses shot down 24 out of the 28 drones launched by Russia at the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolayiv, and Kherson regions.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian regions of Belgorod and Krasnodar, wounding three people early on October 12, Russian officials said.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that a woman and two men wounded in a strike on Ustinka were hospitalized in moderate condition.

In Krasnodar, three houses and one vehicle were destroyed by Ukrainian drones, regional chief Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram, adding that no injuries were reported.

In the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, a fuel depot was on fire in Rovenky, local Telegram channels reported, posting a video of the purported fire.

There was no official confirmation of the Rovenky strike, which was the second one after an attack on the fuel depot in May which killed several people.

Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 17 drones over Krasnodar, 12 over Kursk, 2 over Belgorod, while another 16 were downed off the Sea of Azov coast.

Ukraine, whose infrastructure has been battered by incessant Russian drone and missile strikes that also caused numerous victims among civilians, has in turn resorted lately to striking Russian military targets -- mainly fuel depots -- with its own drones.

Zelenskiy, who concluded a whirlwind tour of Ukraine's main European allies on October 11, has been pressing for approval to use modern long-range weapons systems donated by the West to strike deeper inside Russia -- a request that so far has been declined by most Western leaders.

Zelenskiy said during his visit to Berlin on October 11 that it was important that Ukraine's allies do not decrease their assistance next year.

In his latest video address, Zelenskiy said that "there are many partners, who for objective reasons, cannot help with arms supplies. They do not have [enough of] their own weapons."

"But they can us help with financing. And some partners have special technologies that can be used right now in Ukraine -- in our defense," he added.

Kyiv faces difficult months ahead in its fight to stop a slow but continuous Russian advance in the east.