Russia deploys top general to oversee defence in Kursk amid Ukrainian counter-attack
Russia has dispatched one of its top generals to the Kursk region following a counter-attack by Ukrainian forces.
The arrival of General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who was promoted by President Putin in December, comes after Russia's defence ministry acknowledged that Ukraine had launched a new attack.
Kursk, a region in western Russia, has been the focal point of Russian efforts to expel Ukrainian forces for the past five months.
Ukrainian troops first breached the border with a surprise incursion on 6 August and, despite Russian attempts to regain control, Kyiv's forces have managed to hold on to a significant portion of territory.
Despite Moscow's claims of successfully repelling Ukrainian forces, Russian military bloggers have suggested that its troops are under significant pressure, with some reports indicating heavy fighting.
The Ukrainian military reportedly sent minesweepers ahead of their main forces to clear routes toward Russian lines.
Alexander Khinshtein, governor of the Kursk region, confirmed on Telegram that Gen Yevkurov had arrived for a "working meeting", but refrained from divulging further details.
"The government of the Kursk region will do everything possible to help our armed forces in their sacred fight against Nazism," Mr Khinshtein stated, echoing Russia's controversial framing of the conflict.
Pro-Russian military channels report ongoing artillery and small-arms battles, with Ukrainian forces reportedly using Western-supplied armoured vehicles to bring in large numbers of infantry.
These reports suggest that fighting is concentrated near the town of Bolshoye Soldatskoye in western Kursk.
Ukrainian and Western assessments suggest that as many as 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea may have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces.
However, Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of the DPRK soldiers.
The scale of the operation remains unclear, but unconfirmed reports suggest Ukrainian troops have captured the Russian settlement of Berdin and neutralised mines in the area.
Meanwhile, according to a Russian defence ministry update, Russia's military repelled multiple Ukrainian attacks across several strategic areas in the Kursk region, including Darino, Kurilovka, Nikolayevo-Darino and Sudzha.
Russian forces claimed to have destroyed Ukrainian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, inflicting heavy losses on Ukrainian units.
Overall since the incursion into Kursk began in August, according to Moscow, Ukraine has lost more than 49,000 soldiers, 273 tanks and more than 200 infantry fighting vehicles.
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