Fierce Clashes In Kursk Region As Ukraine Launches Fresh Drive

The Ukrainian military has launched a new assault in Russia’s Kursk region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and battlefield reports, with Kyiv stating that "combat clashes" were under way in the region

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a January 5 statement that “at about 9 a.m. Moscow time, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a counterattack to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction.”

The statement insisted that Russian troops were “continuing to defeat” Ukrainian forces.

Late on January 5, Ukraine’s General Staff said there had been 44 armed battles in the region, at least nine of which were still under way as night fell, although it did not specifically confirm that a new offensive had been launched.

“The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue the operation in the Kursk region,” it said on Telegram.

“At this time, 44 combat clashes are known, 35 of them have already been completed. Fighting continues,” the General Staff added.

The scale of the current offensive and whether it will lead to changes along the front line remains unclear, but some Ukrainian officials have also suggested that a fresh push is under way.

The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said there "was good news from the Kursk Region" and that Russia was "getting what it deserves.”

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, also commented on the development and said that Russian forces in Kursk had been "attacked in several directions, which came as a surprise to them."

“The Defense Forces are at work,” he wrote.

Ukrainian troops first pushed across the border in a surprise incursion on August 6 and have since resisted Russian attempts to fully expel them.

More recently, Russian forces, supported by the introduction of thousands of North Korean soldiers, have advanced but failed to eject Ukrainian troops entirely.

The offensive has reportedly been launched from the district center of Sudzha, which has been under Ukrainian control since August, in the direction of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, which lies some 70 kilometers from Kursk city, the region's administrative center.

In its statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had repelled a Ukrainian assault near the village of Berdin, some 15 kilometers from the border.

According to Russian pro-war accounts on Telegram that closely follow and document frontline developments, the attack is being carried out with armored vehicles, mine-clearing vehicles, and electronic warfare systems, which are said to be successfully countering Russian drones.

Videos online purported to show columns of Ukrainian military vehicles speeding across snow-covered land in the Kursk region.

The MIG Rossyy channel claimed that the Ukrainian military has had "local successes,” saying that “these are not sluggish maneuvers of small sabotage groups, but a full-scale attempt to attack.”

RFE/RL has not been able to independently verify the reports.

About half of the land seized in the initial offensive has been recaptured since August, but Kyiv still holds Sudzha and about 500 square kilometers of Russian territory.

In November, Ukraine reported its forces had engaged in combat with North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and Ukrainian officials have claimed that North Korean forces are suffering heavy losses.

SEE ALSO: North Korean Troops Take Pounding In Kursk As Kim Reportedly Doubles Down

The introduction of North Korean troops came following Ukraine’s cross-border offensive, which Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as a “major provocation.”

The January attacks launched by Kyiv come as its forces are reportedly suffering from manpower shortages and have been losing ground in eastern Ukraine.

The development also comes ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, who has previously said that ending the war in Ukraine would be a first-day priority.

SEE ALSO: Russia Advances, Ukraine Struggles, The War Turns Grimmer For Kyiv

Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's incoming envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has been tasked with leading negotiations to end the war and also said that potential cease-fire talks could begin once Trump takes office.

In a December interview with Fox News, Kellogg said that the war could "be resolved in the next few months."

During a January 2 interview broadcast on Ukrainian television, Zelenskiy said that operations in Kursk play a key role in countering any international perceptions that Kyiv is losing the war.

"The Kursk operation changed everything. It was an important step," he said.

Meanwhile, in an interview with U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman, Zelenskiy said security guarantees for Ukraine in any future peace deal would only be effective if provided by the United States and that he hopes to meet Trump soon after his inauguration.

"Without the United States, security guarantees are not possible. I mean these security guarantees that can prevent Russian aggression," he said.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and dpa