Russia says it has retaken 2 villages in Kursk region from Ukraine

MOSCOW – Russia said on Sept 16 that its forces have retaken control of two villages in its western Kursk region from Ukraine, continuing what it says is a significant counter-offensive there.

Russian forces have been battling Ukrainian troops in Kursk since Aug 6, when Kyiv surprised Moscow with the biggest foreign attack on Russian soil since World War II.

Reuters could not independently verify the report by Russia’s Defence Ministry that its troops have retaken the settlements of Uspenovka and Borki. They lie about 20km apart on the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region.

A senior Russian commander and pro-Kremlin war bloggers said last week that Russia took back control of about 10 settlements in the region.

Ukraine says its forces control about 100 villages in Kursk over an area of more than 1,300 sq km, which Russian sources dispute.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are pressing forwards in eastern Ukraine towards Pokrovsk, a key rail and logistics hub for Kyiv’s forces. Seizing it would be a step towards Russia’s objective of capturing the whole of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept 13 that Ukraine’s Kursk incursion

slowed Russian forces

in eastern Ukraine.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Kursk assault

has proved a distraction for Kyiv

on the eastern front line, weakening its defences there.

Russia and Ukraine conducted two prisoner exchanges over the weekend involving hundreds of prisoners of war. Many of the Russian soldiers had been captured while defending Kursk, the Defence Ministry said. REUTERS