MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it had made significant progress in eastern Ukraine even as Russian war blogs said Moscow's forces continued to fend off Ukrainian attacks inside Russia itself.
Russia's defense ministry said its forces captured the town of Kurakhove, 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian military base where Russian forces have been advancing for months.
The minister said that taking Kurakhove, which has been held for several weeks, will allow Moscow's forces to increase the speed of their advance in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState, which tracks the front line using open sources, has shown most of Kurakhove under Russian control. The Ukrainian Khortytsia group said that Russian forces continued to attack Kurakhove but the Ukrainian side was working to identify and repel Russian attack groups from the front.
Russian war bloggers said Ukraine was attacking the Kursk region for a second day. One of them described the situation as worrying.
Ukraine launched a new offensive on Sunday in Kursk, where its forces broke the border on August 6 and for the past five months have resisted Russian efforts to expel them.
Russia's defense ministry said its forces had repelled the first Ukrainian offensive on Sunday north of the highway leading to the regional capital Kursk.
But Russian military blogs – a group of war correspondents and experts who, while supporting Moscow's efforts, often criticize their shortcomings – said heavy fighting continued for a second day.
“The morning in the Kursk region begins with concern again. It is clear that yesterday's failure will not stop the enemy and he will try to impose his will on us today,” another blogger, Yuri Podolyaka, sent to Telegram.
CHIP negotiation
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine after nearly three years of war, but Ukraine's success in seizing and keeping a piece of Russian territory could boost its negotiating position as both sides prepare for possible peace talks this year.
Both have tried to improve their fighting positions before US President Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20. Trump has repeatedly said he will bring an end to the war quickly, without saying how.
Ukrainian and Western assessments suggest around 11,000 troops from Russian ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their existence.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that more than 1,000 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded. Reuters does not have access to the Kursk battlefield and cannot verify accounts of the battle or casualty counts.
In response to the new attack on Ukraine, the United States and Britain reaffirmed their support for Kyiv on Sunday.
“We are committed to putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield, including increasing security assistance and using all available tools authorized by Congress,” a US Department of Defense spokesperson said.
A spokesman for the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia's illegal, unauthorized aggression and aggression. The UK will support Ukraine for a long time.”