Ukrainian armed forces have begun a surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, according to Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers.
Video showed Ukrainian armoured columns advancing across snowy fields towards the village of Bolshoe Soldatskoe, north-east of the Ukrainian-held Russian town of Sudzha. The scale of the Sunday morning operation was not immediately clear.
There were unconfirmed reports Ukrainian troops had captured the Russian settlement of Berdin and that Ukrainian sappers had removed mines overnight. Fierce fighting was taking place, with electronic countermeasures used to knock out some Russian drones.
Ukraine launched a significant cross-border raid nearly six month ago into the Kursk region. Since then the Kremlin has been attempting to evict Ukrainian forces. It has had some success – recapturing about 40% of lost territory – but has been unable to push them out fully.
Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, suggested the attack had been successful. “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves,” he wrote on Sunday.
Andriy Kovalenko, a senior official with Ukraine’s national security and defence council, confirmed the operation. “In the Kursk region the Russians are deeply concerned. They were attacked on multiple fronts, which came as a surprise to them,” he posted on Telegram.
Russian military bloggers speculated that Ukraine was trying to capture the Kursk nuclear power plant in the town of Kurchatov. Kyiv has previously denied this. The power plant is situated far away from the existing frontline.
Inside Ukraine, Russia has been advancing at the fastest rate since its full-scale 2022 invasion. Russian troops are attempting to flank the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast. In the past two days they captured several outlying villages, to the south-west.
The last Ukrainian defenders were recently forced to abandon their defensive stronghold in a thermal power plant in the eastern city of Kurakhove. The Russians have since captured the ruined complex, with battles taking place on Kurakhove’s outskirts.
The latest Kursk raid was made possible by freezing weather, which made it easier for Ukrainian armoured units to advance. There were reports that US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicles were deployed to ferry Ukrainian infantry to forward positions beneath a tree line.
Sunday’s operation comes before Donald Trump’s return to the White House on 20 January and possible “peace” negotiations later this year. Zelenskyy has hinted that Ukrainian-controlled land around Kursk could play a part in any deal.
Russia has shown few signs it is willing to stop fighting. Vladimir Putin has said his territorial demands are unchanged. They include four Ukrainian regions that he “annexed” in 2022, including the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson and other areas Russia does not control.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy said Russia had lost up to a battalion of North Korean soldiers, brought in to join the battle for Kursk oblast, in just two days. They had been wiped out in the village of Makhnovka, together with Russian paratroopers, he said.
North Korean combat groups have been sent to several frontline villages south-east of Sudzha, according to reports.