The Ukrainian army launched a new offensive this Sunday in the Suja district, according to several channels of pro-Russian military bloggers. The information has subsequently been confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which in a statement ensures that the attack has been repelled. On behalf of the Ukrainian authorities, the head of the presidential cabinet, Andrii Yermak, has so far spoken out. “Good news, Russia is getting what it deserves,” he wrote on Telegram, but without directly alluding to the events in Kursk. The Center for Combating Disinformation (CPD), under the National Security Council of Ukraine of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has also stated that the Russians “are very worried because they were attacked from several directions and this surprised them.”
This is the first time that kyiv goes on the attack in Kursk. At the time, they managed to control about 1,100 square kilometers, but have since lost about half of that and continue to resist Russian attempts to expel them, according to an analysis by the military news website. Militarnyi.
The Russian bloggers who are spreading information about Kursk support the invasion of Ukraine, but they do not always agree with their country’s actions and . In many cases they have military knowledge and even direct access to the troops and the battle front, from where they report, which is why they usually offer more data than official reports.
Very influential bloggers and Telegram channels are publishing information about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to advance and take the town of Berdin, about 25 kilometers from Suja, where fighting with artillery and small arms is taking place. They also report that Ukraine is using Western armored vehicles to provide large numbers of infantry. “The enemy offensive started from Suja towards the town of Berdin, Bolshoi Soldatskoye district, using mine trawls, tanks and other armored vehicles,” blogger Roman Alekhin reports.
Another blogger, Yuri Podoliak, agrees that the attacks are directed towards Berdin, “with up to a company of infantry fighting vehicles, under the cover of tanks.” There, “after suffering heavy losses,” part of the Ukrainian troops have managed to reach the outskirts of the town, he says.
Fighting also continues in the vicinity of the towns of Malaya Loknya and Novoivanovka, towards the northeast of Suja, but especially towards Tyotkino, in the northwest, about 100 kilometers from Suja. There is “a high probability that Russia will soon lose it if it brings additional forces into the battle here,” the blogger warns about the latter location. “What is happening today is just the beginning. We must prepare for long and exhausting battles on both sides,” he predicts. However, all sources indicate that the situation is changing very rapidly and it is too early to assess its progress.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, has issued a statement stating that its army “continues to defeat” the formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. “At around 9.00 Moscow time, to stop the advance of Russian troops in the direction of Kursk, the enemy launched a counterattack with an assault group consisting of two tanks, a bombing vehicle and 12 armored fighting vehicles with troops disembarkation in the direction of Berdin. The artillery and aviation of the Northern group of troops defeated the assault group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (…) The operation to destroy units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues,” the note concludes.
This offensive has been preceded by statements made this Saturday by Volodymyr Zelensky in which he stated that Russia has suffered “significant” casualties on this front. “In the battles yesterday and today near Majnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantrymen and Russian paratroopers,” the Ukrainian president announced, without providing further details on the number of casualties. Around 11,000 soldiers from North Korea, Russia’s ally, are deployed in Kursk. Russia its presence.
Since the beginning of the year, Russia has intensified its attacks against all Ukrainian territory, causing deaths in kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Yitomir, among other cities. In total, during this week, Russia used more than 630 attack drones, some 740 guided aerial bombs and almost 50 missiles of various types, according to Zelensky,
The recovery of Kursk, a territory that Ukraine could use to its advantage in hypothetical ceasefire negotiations, is a pending issue for the Kremlin. At the annual press conference that Russian President Vladimir Putin gives to journalists and citizens at Christmas, and he assured that he will do so, but without specifying a date.
