Ukrainian Forces Launch Surprise New Offensive In Kursk Region

This is an interesting development because for months the media coverage of Kursk has focused on the Russian counterattack to regain territory, which has largely stalled. 

That the Ukrainians are feeling secure enough to launch a new offensive suggests their forces are stronger than many western media are reporting, that the Russians are far weaker - and that Ukraine does not perceive the Russian attacks in the east to be particularly threatening. All of which reveals Russia's military to be far more degraded than previously thought. JL 

Will Vernon and Amy Walker report in the BBC:

Ukraine has launched a fresh offensive in Russia's Kursk region. The attack was launched from the Ukrainians' base at Sudzha towards the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, a district centre on the way to Kursk city. "The Russians in Kursk were attacked from several directions and it came as a surprise to them."

Ukraine has launched a fresh offensive in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian defence ministry says.

In a statement, the military said efforts to destroy the Ukrainian attack groups were ongoing. Officials in Ukraine have also suggested an operation is under way.

Ukraine first launched its incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August last year, seizing a chunk of territory.

In recent months, Russian forces have made big gains in the area, pushing the Ukrainians back, but failing to eject them entirely.

In a statement posted on Telegram on Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said: "At around 9am Moscow time, in order to stop the offensive by the Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counter-attack by an assault detachment consisting of two tanks, one counter-obstacle vehicle, and 12 armoured fighting vehicles."

Several Russian military bloggers gave more details about the attack, saying it was launched from the Ukrainians' base at Sudzha towards the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, a district centre on the way to Kursk city.

The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said there "was good news from Kursk Region" and that Russia was "getting what it deserves".

Ukraine's top counter-disinformation official Andriy Kovalenko said in a Telegram post on Sunday: "The Russians in Kursk are experiencing great anxiety because they were attacked from several directions and it came as a surprise to them."

It's unclear whether the offensive is sufficiently large-scale to lead to any significant changes on the frontline.

Russian blogger Yury Podolyaka said the operation may have been diversionary, while another, Alexander Kots, did not rule out that the main attack could be launched somewhere else.

Kyiv's forces are reportedly suffering from manpower shortages and have been losing ground in the east of Ukraine in recent months, as Russian troops advance.

It comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched another drone attack on Ukraine overnight.

It said it had shot down 61 drones over Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyy regions

There were no direct hits, but a few houses were damaged in Kharkiv Region by an intercepted drone, the air force said.

In November, Ukraine reported its troops had engaged in combat with North Korean troops in the Kursk region.

The appearance of North Korean soldiers was in response to a surprise attack launched across the border by Ukrainian troops in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into Russian land.

Moscow evacuated almost 200,000 people from areas along the border and President Vladimir Putin condemned the Ukrainian offensive as a "major provocation".

After a fortnight, Ukraine's top commander claimed to control more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and 93 villages.

Some of that territory has been regained by Russia.