Battle raged in western Russia as Moscow claimed its forces made major gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new offensive inside the Kursk region, where fierce fighting was underway.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces had captured the town of Kurakhove, 20 miles south of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian logistics hub toward which Russian forces have been advancing for months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had suffered big losses in five months of fighting in Russia’s Kursk region with nearly 15,000 killed.
He made no mention of Kurakhove.
Russian Gains
The Russian ministry said that taking Kurakhove, which had held out for many weeks, would enable its forces boost the pace of their advance in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
It also said it had captured Dachenske, a village located only five miles south of the city of Pokrovsk.
Viktor Trehubov, Spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces, told Reuters that as of Monday morning, Kyiv’s forces were still engaging Russian troops inside Kurakhove.
Attacks On Ukrainian Positions Around Kurakhove
In a late evening report, the General Staff of Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces had launched 25 attacks on Ukrainian positions around Kurakhove, but said nothing about the town changing hands.
Ukrainian bloggers said that servicemen were subjected to constant fire from multiple rocket launchers and guided, or glide, bombs.
One report said that Kurakhove had been “practically lost”.
Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState, which tracks the front line using open sources, showed most of Kurakhove under Russian control.
Trump’s Pledge
Both sides are fighting to improve their battlefield positions before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
Trump has pledged to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war.
Bargaining Chip In Possible Peace Talks
Ukraine’s main achievement in the past five months of fighting has been its capture and holding of territory inside Russia’s Kursk region that could prove a bargaining chip in possible peace talks.
Ukraine has not disclosed details of the new offensive it launched in Kursk on Sunday.
A senior Ukrainian official however said that Russia was “getting what it deserves”.
Ukraine Claims Kursk Gains
In his video address, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces had established a buffer zone and inflicted heavy losses in Kursk.
The Ukrainian forces succeeded in preventing Moscow from deploying its troops in key areas of the eastern front.
Kursk Operation
“During the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost 38,000 of their soldiers in this direction alone, with nearly 15,000 of these losses being irreversible,” he said.
Russia’s defence ministry said that the Ukrainian advance had been foiled and the main force had been destroyed near the settlement of Berdin, close to a road running northeast toward the city of Kursk.
A senior Russian commander said a further attack was expected.
“We are registering a concentration of enemy equipment in another direction and naturally we understand that (Ukraine) will try to strike in this direction. Right now I won’t say where,” said Major General Apti Alaudinov, Commander of a Chechen unit fighting for Russia in Kursk.
Russia Pushing Deeper Into Eastern Ukraine
Independent military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady said that Ukraine was trying to hold its pocket of Kursk for as long as possible, even as Russia continued to push deeper into eastern Ukraine.
“There is a likelihood that we haven’t seen the main thrust of this Ukrainian offensive operation just yet,” he told Reuters.
“We are essentially talking about platoon-sized, company-sized assaults with fairly limited gains thus far.”
It remained to be seen if Kyiv’s forces could open up another axis of advance, Gady added.
Deployment Of North Korean Troops
Ukrainian and Western assessments suggest that about 11,000 troops from Russia’s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
North Korean Troops Killed and Wounded
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that more than 1,000 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded.
Reuters does not have access to the Kursk war zone and cannot verify casualty figures.
Reacting to the Ukrainian offensive, the United States, Britain and the European Union reaffirmed support for Kyiv.
Right To Defend
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself, and under international law, this right extends beyond its borders,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement to Reuters.
“Moscow’s unlawful war against Ukraine has included numerous Russian attacks originating from the Kursk region.”
U.S. Committed To Empowering Ukraine
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Sunday, “We are committed to putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield, including by surging security assistance and utilizing all available resources authorized by the Congress.
(With inputs from Reuters)
