Russia’s defense ministry has announced that its forces have recaptured 10 settlements in the Kursk border region, which were previously seized by Ukrainian forces in a surprise incursion last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russia had begun “counter-offensive actions, which is going in line with our Ukrainian plan”.
According to Russia, its “Units of the North” forces reclaimed the settlements over two days in the area around Snagost, on the western flank of the area occupied by Ukraine. The counter-offensive was first reported by Chechen special forces commander, Maj Gen Apti Alaudinov, who claimed that six Ukrainian brigades had suffered heavy casualties.
A Ukrainian officer fighting in the Kursk region said that the Russian counter-offensive had begun some distance to the west of Sudzha, and that the fighting was “very tough” and the situation was “not in our favor as of now”.
Ukraine’s offensive, launched on August 6, aimed to distract Russia from its push into eastern Ukraine. However, Russian forces have continued to seize villages in eastern Ukraine and are closing in on the strategic town of Pokrovsk.
Analysts from the US-based Institute for the Study of War said it was premature to draw conclusions about the size, scale, and potential prospects of the Russian counterattacks. Meanwhile, Russian forces are only a few kilometers outside Pokrovsk, and fierce fighting is reported on the approaches to the town.
In a separate incident, a Russian drone attack left 14 people wounded in the northern Ukrainian town of Konotop, a key hub used by Kyiv for preparing its Kursk campaign. Prosecutors in the Sumy border region posted photographs showing damaged apartment blocks in the town.
Power supplies to Konotop were down due to the strike, and officials said energy infrastructure had been significantly damaged. Ukrainian forces had tried to make Russia nervous, but President Vladimir Putin argued that Ukraine’s offensive had merely helped Moscow’s “primary objective”, which he identified as capturing the Donbas region.
