Russia has regained control of at least 10 villages in the southwestern Kursk region that have been occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) for the past month, the Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday.
“The operation to destroy AFU formations continues,” the ministry said, adding that Russian forces had “repelled two AFU counterattacks” and claimed that over the past 24 hours, Ukraine had lost “over 300 servicemen and 24 armoured vehicles”.
The ministry’s statement followed several reports by pro-Russian news outlets that first reported Russia had regained control over the Kursk region villages. Pro-Russian Telegram channel Mash reported on Wednesday that Russia had retaken some 150 square kilometres of territory.
The Russian counteroffensive appeared to come as no surprise to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who confirmed that it had begun at a press conference in Kyiv with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on Thursday, but added that everything was “going according to our Ukrainian plan”.
Ukraine gained control of over nearly 1,300 square kilometres and 100 towns and villages in the Kursk region following the AFU’s unexpected incursion into Russia last month, which led Moscow to threaten “an appropriate response” to Ukraine’s “hostile actions”.
AFU Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told RBC-Ukraine in late August that the Russian military had deployed some 30,000 servicemen to the Kursk region, “trying to create a defensive ring” around the Ukrainian troops and planning a counteroffensive.