Ukraine renews offensive inside Russia

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Ukrainian forces are advancing on multiple fronts in Russia’s southern Kursk region, even as its troops struggle to hold the line elsewhere along the frontline.

Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that its army had repelled two Ukrainian offensives, while pro-war bloggers confirmed that Kiev’s forces were moving into Kursk is about half of the 1,200 square km occupied in the Russian region in August.

“Kursk region, good news, Russia gets what it deserves,” Andrey Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, wrote on Telegram.

Andrey Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s anti-disinformation center, wrote in Telegram that the Russian side is under attack from “several directions” and is “very worried” by the “surprise” attack.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately specify the purpose of the new attack inside Russia. But the operation will inevitably use expensive weapons and manpower that are already in desperate short supply on its eastern front, where Moscow’s troops are advancing rapidly.

Russia gained just 4,200 square kilometers in 2024, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said this week, adding that more than half of the gains were made between September and November.

The vast majority of these gains have been in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where settlements under Russian occupation have become a daily occurrence.

Although Western military analysts Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk gave the country a much-needed morale boost, and its attempt to hold the area instead of capturing and retreating Russian soldiers has exacerbated manpower shortages.

Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Sirsky, said in August that it was hoped that Russia would move troops from the east to defend its own territory.

North Korea, a key ally of the Kremlin, has sent thousands since of its own troops to the Kursk region for the deployment of Russian troops in that area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that hundreds of North Korean soldiers had been killed in Kursk between Friday and Saturday. The Financial Times was unable to verify his claims.

However, the advance on the Eastern Front came at a high human cost for Russia. UK Under Secretary of State for Defense Luke Pollard told parliament last month that the number of Russian casualties since the start of the war has exceeded 750,000.

Russia continues its daily bombing of Ukrainian cities, settlements and energy infrastructure behind the front lines, mostly using its now steady supply of Iranian-designed attack drones. :

Zelensky said that in the first three days of the new year, Russia deployed more than 300 drones and 20 missiles.

On New Year’s Day, four Russian drones managed to bypass air defenses in Kiev, striking the city center, including a building just 100 meters from the Ukrainian president’s office, using a more advanced satellite navigation dish, according to electronic warfare experts.