Ukraine launches new offensive within the Russian Kursk area | International | EUROtoday

The Ukrainian military launched a brand new offensive this Sunday within the Sudzha district, within the western Russian area of Kursk, in keeping with a number of channels of pro-Russian navy bloggers. The info has subsequently been confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which in an announcement ensures that the assault has been repelled. At 4 within the afternoon this Sunday, 42 battles had been recorded, 12 of which had been nonetheless in progress, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

Previously, solely the pinnacle of the presidential cupboard, Andrii Yermak, had spoken out. “Good news, Russia is getting what it deserves,” he wrote on Telegram. The Center for Combating Disinformation (CPD), below the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, has additionally said that the Russians “are very worried because they were attacked from several directions and this surprised them.”

This is the primary time that kyiv goes on the assault in Kursk since final August 6, when it opened this entrance surprisingly. At that point, they managed to regulate about 1,100 sq. kilometers, however have since misplaced about half of that and proceed to withstand Russian makes an attempt to expel them, in keeping with an evaluation by the navy information web site. Militarnyi.

The Russian bloggers who’re spreading details about Kursk assist the invasion of Ukraine, however they don’t at all times agree with their nation’s actions and are generally vital of the selections made by the Kremlin. In many instances they’ve navy data and even direct entry to the troops and the battle entrance, from the place they report, which is why they normally supply extra knowledge than official studies. As occasions unfold, everybody agrees that right now’s assaults are the start of a bigger offensive that’s anticipated quickly. “The main events are apparently still to come,” the Rybar Telegram channel, near the Russian Defense Ministry, printed.

Very influential bloggers and Telegram channels are publishing details about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine try to advance and take the city of Berdin, about 25 kilometers from Sudzha, the place combating with artillery and small arms is happening. They additionally report that Ukraine is utilizing Western armored automobiles to supply massive numbers of infantry. “The enemy offensive started from Sudzha towards the town of Berdin, Bolshoi Soldatskoye district, using mine trawls, tanks and other armored vehicles,” blogger Roman Alekhin studies.

Another blogger, Yuri Podoliak, agrees that the assaults are directed in the direction of Berdin, “with up to a company of infantry fighting vehicles, under the cover of tanks.” There, “after suffering heavy losses,” a part of the Ukrainian troops have managed to achieve the outskirts of the city, he says.

Fighting additionally continues within the neighborhood of the cities of Malaya Loknya and Novoivanovka, in the direction of the northeast of Sudzha, however particularly in the direction of Tyotkino, within the northwest, about 100 kilometers from Sudzha. There is “a high probability that Russia will soon lose it if it brings additional forces into the battle here,” the blogger warns in regards to the latter location. “What is happening today is just the beginning. We must prepare for long and exhausting battles on both sides,” he predicts. However, all sources point out that the scenario is altering very quickly and it’s too early to evaluate its progress.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its half, has issued an announcement stating that its military “continues to defeat” the formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces within the Kursk area. “At around 9.00 Moscow time, to stop the advance of Russian troops in the direction of Kursk, the enemy launched a counterattack with an assault group consisting of two tanks, a bombing vehicle and 12 armored fighting vehicles with troops disembarkation in the direction of Berdin. The artillery and aviation of the Northern group of troops defeated the assault group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (…) The operation to destroy units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues,” the observe concludes.

This offensive has been preceded by statements made this Saturday by Volodymyr Zelensky by which he said that Russia has suffered “significant” casualties on this entrance. “In the battles yesterday and today near Majnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantrymen and Russian paratroopers,” the Ukrainian president introduced, with out offering additional particulars on the variety of casualties. Around 11,000 troopers from North Korea, a Russian ally, are deployed in Kursk, in keeping with assessments by Ukrainian specialists and Western allies. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied its presence.

Since the start of the yr, Russia has intensified its assaults towards all Ukrainian territory, inflicting deaths in kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkov and Yitomir, amongst different cities. In complete, throughout this week, Russia used greater than 630 assault drones, some 740 guided aerial bombs and virtually 50 missiles of assorted sorts, in keeping with Zelensky,

The restoration of Kursk, a territory that Ukraine might use to its benefit in hypothetical ceasefire negotiations, is a pending subject for the Kremlin. At the annual press convention that Russian President Vladimir Putin provides at Christmas to journalists and residents, he was requested when he would expel the Ukrainians and he assured that he’ll accomplish that, however with out specifying a date.