Moscow said Sunday that Ukraine had launched a counterattack in Russia's Kursk region, where kyiv's forces already control several hundred square kilometers since an August 2024 offensive, a surprise assault two weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The inauguration of the “unpredictable” Republican on January 20 has raised fears in kyiv of a drastic reduction in American support, which is nevertheless vital to the Ukrainian army, and that the leader, who has sworn to be able to resolve the conflict “in 24 hours”, will force Ukraine to make concessions to Vladimir Putin.
“At around 9 a.m., the enemy launched a counterattack to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk area”, the Russian army said in a statement on Sunday.
According to her, “the assault group of the Ukrainian army was defeated by artillery and aviation” and “the operation to destroy units of the Ukrainian forces continues”.
The Ukrainian army, which has remained silent for the moment on this new operation, has occupied several hundred square kilometers of the Russian region of Kursk, on the border, since August 2024, controlling in particular the small town of Soudja.
Russia is now supported in the area by thousands of North Korean soldiers, according to the West and kyiv.
The head of The Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, published a fairly clear message on Telegram, without directly confirming the Ukrainian initiative: “Kursk region, good news. Russia is getting what it deserves.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Andriy Kovalenko, an official of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that the Russians “were attacked from several sides, which surprised them.”
The Telegram channel Mash, known to be close to the Russian authorities, assured that “the men of the Ukrainian army are moving in small groups. The total number of their troops is 2,000.”
According to Russian military bloggers, well-informed about the hostilities, Ukrainian forces are trying in particular to take control of Berdine, a small town located about 20 kilometers from the border.
“The enemy's electronic warfare equipment is increasingly active on the site, which hinders the use of drones”, specified on Telegram the channel “Rybar“, close to the Russian army and followed by more than 1.3 million subscribers.
Before Trump's return
This new Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk comes two weeks before the return to the White House of Donald Trump, who called for an “immediate” ceasefire and promised to obtain a peace agreement to stop “the carnage“, without however ever detailing his plan.
He also said he was opposed to Ukrainian strikes against Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles, a red line for Moscow.
This offensive by kyiv also comes five months after a first cross-border assault in the same Russian region of Kursk, which had taken Russian forces by surprise, a failure for President Vladimir Putin who has been praising a “more sovereign” Russia since the start of his men's assault on Ukraine in February 2022.
The master of the Kremlin, who had appeared irritated on Russian television in August in the wake of the Ukrainian assault, had called on his troops to “push back the enemy” out of Russia.
“The enemy will certainly receive a response worthy of the name,” he had sworn.
kyiv's objectives were then to force Moscow to redeploy its troops, to attack on the eastern front, towards this new front installed on Russian soil, in addition to strengthening its position at the negotiating table before possible peace talks.
At the end of November, a high-ranking source within the Ukrainian general staff had stressed that Ukraine would remain in the Russian region of Kursk “as long as it is of interest”, specifying that it still controlled at that time “about 800 km2”, compared to nearly 1,400 km2 at the “maximum” of the assault launched in last August.
But if the Ukrainian army still remains very present in Russia, the main expected effect has not occurred and the Russian forces have been advancing since the fall on the eastern front at a speed not seen since March 2022.