Russia Has Blunted Major Ukrainian Counterattack In Kursk

Ukraine’s military is on day three of what has been called a major counterattack in Russia’s Kursk region, which the Kremlin now claims is being beaten back.

A Monday Russian defense ministry statement said that Moscow forces “continue to rout the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ formations in the Kursk Region.” On the same day, President Zelensky issued a written statement to the Ukrainian presidency’s website which reiterated he is “bringing the war back to Russia”.

“We continue to maintain a buffer zone on Russian territory, actively destroying Russian military potential there,” Zelensky stated.

“The Russians have deployed their strong units to the Kursk region,” he continued. “Soldiers from North Korea are involved there. What’s important is that the occupier cannot currently redirect all this force to other directions, in particular the Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia regions.”

“I thank all our warriors who are bringing the war back to Russia and providing Ukraine with greater security and strength,” he added.

But Russia has claimed to have already destroyed at least ten tanks and inflicted heavy losses on the invading Ukrainians.

“According to the ministry, the Ukrainian advance focused on the town of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, and Russian forces have destroyed Kiev’s main strike group with the support of the Air Force and artillery,” writes RT.

“In the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military has lost a total 485 troops, ten tanks, seven infantry fighting vehicles, five armored personnel carriers, an artillery gun, an electronic warfare system and multiple other vehicles in Kursk Region,” the statement added. The assertions can’t be independently verified.

The Kursk offensive, which has been ongoing all the way back to early August, has been Zelensky’s riskiest gambit of the nearly three-year long war yet. 

Ukrainian officials have articulated the goals of the operation in various ways, but it was hoped that Russia would be forced to divert many of its troops from the Donbass.

Ukrainian forces have been pushed out of Makhnovka south of Sudzha, Kursk. pic.twitter.com/8VLWYoaPeP

— KalibratedMaps (@Kalibrated_Maps) January 7, 2025

So far this doesn’t seemed to have happened in large numbers, and Moscow has reportedly used North Korean troops to bolster security forces in Kursk.

Ukraine, Washington and NATO have all vehemently condemned the presence of North Korean troops in the conflict, but Russia has said it struck a mutual defense pact with Pyongyang this past summer, and that the Kursk offensive constitutes the Russian homeland coming under direct threat which justifies the foreign assistance.