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Ukrainian forces attacked Russia’s western Kursk region on Monday, firing missiles, smashing through the border and crossing minefields with special vehicles, according to Russian war bloggers.
Ukrainian officials did not comment on any advances but prosecutors said Russian shelling and guided bomb attacks during the day killed at least three people and injured others in border villages in the neighbouring Sumy region of Ukraine.
There was no immediate official comment from Russia, but the war bloggers published maps showing Ukrainian forces trying to push over the border in two places towards Tyotkino.
‘Heavy battle’ at the border
The Ukrainian attack in Kursk was reported by multiple other Russian bloggers, including “the archangel of special forces” and Russian state television war correspondent Alexander Sladkov.
“The enemy blew up bridges with rockets at night and launched an attack with armoured groups in the morning,” Russian war blogger “RVvoenkor” said on Telegram.
“The mine clearance vehicles began to make passages in the minefields, followed by armoured vehicles with troops. There is a heavy battle going on at the border.”
Operation in Kursk ongoing
Ukraine made a surprise offensive into Kursk in August 2024, hoping to shift the momentum in Russia’s full-scale invasion as Kremlin forces gained the upper hand. Kyiv also hoped its position in Kursk would draw Russian troops away from other parts of Ukraine and give it a bargaining chip with Moscow.
But Russia’s top general said last month that Ukrainian troops had been ejected from Kursk, ending the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two, and that Russia was carving out a buffer zone in the Ukrainian region of Sumy.
Kyiv did not acknowledge defeat in Kursk, and the latest operation was the first sign of a renewed Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region since the Kremlin claimed it had routed Ukraine’s forces last month.
The Ukrainian military said on Monday that its forces struck a Russian drone command unit near Tyotkino on Sunday.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor’s Office said Russian forces had subjected two settlements in Sumy — Bilopillya and Vorozhba — to mass artillery fire and guided bomb attacks, killing three residents and injuring four.
Local authorities had earlier urged residents in the area to evacuate their homes in the area, about 10 km across the border from Tyotkino.
The Ukrainian military said the operation in Kursk was continuing.
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