Russia says it is starting to fight in the Kursk region

The Ministry of Defense of Russia says that its forces have recaptured ten residences that were seized by Ukrainian forces during the outbreak of violence in the Kursk border region of Russia last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russia has started “countermeasures, consistent with our plan in Ukraine”.

Russia said its “Northern Units” troops recaptured these areas in two days in the vicinity of Snagost, on the western side of the Ukrainian-controlled territory in its campaign launched on August 6.

The first indication of the attack came from the commander of the Chechen special forces, Maj Gen Apti Alaudinov, who said that six Ukrainian brigades had suffered heavy losses.

A Ukrainian official fighting in the Kursk region told the BBC that the Russian offensive had begun some distance west of Sudzha.

“The fight is very difficult and the situation is not in our favor right now,” said a police officer who did not want to be identified.

The invasion of Ukraine was launched with the aim of distracting Russia from its push into eastern Ukraine. It now occupies an area of ​​up to 1,300 sq km (500 square miles) of Russian territory.

However, Russian forces continued to capture villages in eastern Ukraine and besieged the village of Pokrovsk.

Analysts from the US-based Institute for the Study of War said the size, scale and potential prospects of the Russian attack were unclear and it was too early to draw any conclusions.

Another social media account linked to the Ukrainian group said that Russian troops had launched a surprise attack near Snagost and that the Ukrainians were fighting back.

Russian military expert Anatoly Matviychuk told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that more than 100 sq km of territory has been retaken and “enemy reserves, reinforcements, and supplies will no longer be able to reach the Kursk region”.

The Russian military was caught by surprise by the scale and intensity of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region early last month.

Although Moscow was surprised by the way the Ukrainian army seized cities and towns including Sudzha, President Vladimir Putin said almost a month later that they had failed.

The Ukrainian forces had tried to make Russia nervous – “running, sending troops from one place to another and stopping our attacks in key areas, above all in Donbas” – he said.

Not only did it not work, Putin argued that the invasion of Ukraine merely served Moscow’s “primary objective”, which he identified as capturing the Donbas – Ukraine’s industrial regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russian troops are now a few kilometers outside of Pokrovsk and the nearest town is Myrnohrad and heavy fighting is being reported on the approaches to Pokrovsk.

The crossing between the two cities was destroyed by Thursday and the head of the Donetsk region said that the water supply line to Pokrovsk was also cut off, although he said that the city had access to several wells.

Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack left 14 people injured in the northern Ukrainian city of Konotop, a key base used by Kyiv to prepare for its Kursk campaign.

Prosecutors in the border region of Sumy posted photos showing damaged apartments in the city. Electricity supply in Konotop has decreased due to the strike and officials said that the electricity infrastructure has been severely damaged.