Russia ‘getting what it deserves,’ Ukraine says, after launching counterattack in border region
Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, warning that Russia is “getting what it deserves.”
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, an official body, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk, months after launching its incursion in the region.
In a short Telegram post Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.”
The Ukrainian military first launched an incursion into Kursk in August and has held much of the territory it took, despite efforts by Russian and recently deployed North Korean troops to drive Ukrainian units back across the border.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that the Ukrainians had launched counterattacks to stop a Russian offensive, as reported by the official TASS news agency. It said that both had been repelled, adding that a Ukrainian assault including two tanks and 12 armored vehicles had been defeated near the village of Berdin, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border. The ministry said air power had been used against Ukrainian forces in several areas.
Subsequently, a blog associated with Russia’s Northern Group of forces said that its units were moving forward, adding that there were “active hostilities in Sudzha district, the enemy is acting in mobile groups on armored vehicles, our aviation and artillery are working, small arms battles are going on.”
CNN is unable to verify battlefield reports.
The Kursk offensive – the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II – took Russia and Ukraine’s allies by surprise when it was launched. Kyiv’s troops advanced quickly, though Russia eventually began to push their forces back; the line of control has not changed dramatically in recent months.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that in battles near the village of Makhnovka, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers. A battalion is normally several hundred troops.
Unofficial Russian military blogs, which often provide reliable reporting on the Ukraine conflict, acknowledged the fighting on Sunday. One said that the Ukrainians were pushing north towards Berdin.