Ukraine’s army launches surprise counteroffensive in Kursk region

The Ukrainian armed forces have surprisingly launched a new offensive in the western Russian region of Kursk.

“Kursk region, good news: Russia is getting what it deserves,” wrote the head of the presidential office in Kiev, Andriy Yermak, on Telegram – indirectly confirming the move.

In the Kursk region, the Russians were surprised and Ukrainian attacks were carried out in several directions, said Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Combating Disinformation at the Security and Defense Council, which reports to the Ukrainian president. The military in Kiev initially did not provide any information.

Moscow also reported a renewed Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region. “The enemy launched a counterattack to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk region,” the Russian army said in a statement on Sunday. The attack therefore took place in the morning.

“The attack group of the Ukrainian army was defeated by the artillery and air force,” the Russian army statement continued. “The operation to destroy Ukrainian army units continues.” The information provided by both sides could not initially be independently verified. Russian military blogs first reported the unexpected attacks by the Ukrainians.

According to observers, the offensive around two weeks before the inauguration of the future US President Donald Trump on January 20th could serve to highlight Russian weaknesses in order to be in a better position in the expected negotiations to end the war. Recently the Russians were on the rise in the Kursk region and in the east of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military currently only controls half of the almost 1,000 square kilometers conquered in Kursk in the summer.

The Ukrainian army first launched an offensive in the Russian border region of Kursk in August last year. Kiev’s troops conquered several hundred square kilometers of land.

Several columns of Ukrainian armored vehicles can be seen marching at high speed in videos that are said to have come from the region. Mine clearance vehicles clear the way. According to Russian military bloggers, Kiev is also increasingly using radio jammers to disable Russian drones. The main thrust is the arterial road to Kursk, northeast of the small town of Sudja, which the Ukrainians were able to capture in their surprising summer offensive.

Only the evening before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had also reported heavy losses by Russian units in the attempt to recapture the Kursk region. “In fighting today and yesterday in the vicinity of the village of Makhnovka in the Kursk region alone, the Russian army lost an infantry battalion of North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” Zelensky said in his evening video message on Friday. The information could not be independently verified.

According to official information, a battalion of the Russian armed forces has a troop strength of up to 500 men.

In recent weeks, videos have emerged again and again that are said to show attempts by Russian units – sometimes reinforced by North Korean soldiers – to storm the Kursk area. You can see many destroyed Russian armored vehicles and killed soldiers. Military experts explain the seemingly hasty attack attempts as Moscow’s aim to gain as much ground as possible before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in order to have a good starting position in the expected negotiations.

The situation on the battlefield remains difficult for Ukraine. Russian troops continue to attack despite the losses. In the last 24 hours they are said to have gained ground near Kurakhove, near the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, but also in the embattled city of Toretsk.

According to media reports from Kiev, Russia conquered almost 3,600 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory last year – an area almost 1.5 times the size of Saarland.

Ukraine suffered the highest territorial losses of 610 square kilometers in November, when the Russians occupied around 20 square kilometers every day, the military blog “Militarnyi” reported, citing maps from “Deepstate”, another military blog. The losses in 2024 are multiples of the previous year.

There is no official confirmation of the numbers. In mid-December, the Ukrainian Telegram channel UA War Infographics estimated the conquests by Russian troops since the beginning of the year at a good 2,800 square kilometers. However, Ukraine still lost 510 square kilometers in December. It is striking that Kiev’s territorial losses increased significantly after its own summer offensive and the conquests in the western Russian region of Kursk.