Ukraine fighting 50,000-strong force in Russia’s Kursk
- 12 November, 08:58
Ukrainian troops are holding off 50,000 troops in Russia’s border Kursk region where Kyiv launched large-scale incursion months ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
"Our men are holding back... 50,000 of the occupier's army personnel who, due to the Kursk operation, cannot be deployed to other Russian offensive directions on our territory," the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskiy made the remarks on post in Telegram app, after receiving a briefing from General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would “considerably strengthen” its positions on Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in eastern Donetsk region where Russia has intensified its attacks.
Russian army launched several waves of unsuccessful offensives into embattled Kursk on November 11, Anastasiia Blyshchyk, a spokesperson for one of Ukraine’s mechanized brigades said on Tuesday. “They stormed with a battalion-sized force,” Blyshchyk said, adding that Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian vehicles and equipment, and that “the Russian invaders were eliminated.”
Ukraine launched large-scale attack on Russia’s border Kursk region in early August, taking a large number of Russian soldiers hostage and capturing dozens of villages and settlements. According to Oleksandr Syrskyi Russian forces have suffered 7,905 soldiers killed, 12,220 injured, and 717 captured during the three months of the Kursk offensive.
