Ukraine has launched a counter-attack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, with the presidency saying Russia is 'getting what it deserves'.
The Ukrainian army first launched an incursion into Kursk in August and has taken control of much of the seized territory, despite attempts by Russian and recently deployed North Korean forces to push Ukrainian units back across the border.
In a brief Telegram post Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia gets what it deserves.”
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, an official body, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks on Russian troops in several locations.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the Ukrainians have launched counterattacks to stop a Russian offensive, according to the official TASS news agency. It said both had been repulsed, adding that a Ukrainian attack including two tanks and seven armored vehicles had been defeated near the village of Berdin, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border.
CNN cannot verify battlefield reports.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian army lost to a battalion of North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers in fighting near the village of Makhnovka. A battalion normally consists of several hundred troops.
Unofficial Russian military blogs, which often provide reliable reporting on the conflict in Ukraine, acknowledged the fighting on Sunday. One said the Ukrainians were moving north toward Berdin.
“The enemy has thrown reserves into the offensive in the Kursk region,” a blog said on Sunday.
“Before the breakthrough, the AFU covered the area with powerful radio-electronic warfare systems, hampering the work of our UAVs [drones],” the blog said. “There are small arms battles, our artillery and tanks are actively working against the enemy.”
A second blog gave a similar account, saying the offensive had started from the Sudzha area, but the Ukrainians had also landed paratroopers and intensified fighting in other directions.
“In this offensive, the enemy is using mine clearance nets, tanks and other armored vehicles,” the blog said, adding that the icy ground made the attack possible but was not expected to last long. It added that Russian bombers were in action.
The acting governor of Kursk, Aleksandr Hinshtein, said on Telegram that Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov had arrived in the region. Yevkurov is responsible for military security in the border regions, but it is not clear whether his visit is related to the current fighting.
“The government of the Kursk region will do everything possible to help our armed forces in their holy struggle against Nazism,” Hinshtein said.
Ukrainian and Western estimates say around 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy parts of the territory after staging the cross-border incursion.
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