MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s military said on Tuesday its forces had thwarted attempted Ukrainian attacks on four settlements in its western Kursk region and taken control of what it described as the strategic logistics hub of Niu-York in eastern Ukraine.
The capture of Niu-York, if confirmed by Ukraine, would mark another advance in Moscow’s grinding drive to capture the entire Donetsk region even as it fights to end the two-week-old Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region.
Ukraine says it has captured more than 1,250 sq km (480 sq miles) of Russian territory, including 92 settlements, since bursting across the border on Aug. 6 in one of its most audacious and unexpected counter-attacks of the war.
Russia has vowed to crush the incursion, but has shown no sign it is close to ending.
“Reconnaissance and search operations continue to identify and destroy enemy sabotage groups in clumps of forest that were trying to penetrate deep into Russian territory,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
Russian warplanes had also struck concentrations of Ukrainian manpower and hardware on the Ukrainian side of the border, it said.
It said the attempted Ukrainian assaults inside Kursk were near the settlements of Borki, Korenevo, Kremyanoye and Russkaya Kanapelka. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.
“In the Kursk region, the tense situation continues along the entire front line. The enemy attacks with columns of armoured vehicles in various areas, coming under fire from armoured vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces and aviation,” wrote Rybar, a popular Russian military blogger.
The incursion has boosted Ukrainian morale, and Kyiv believes the seizure of territory and Russian prisoners has strengthened its hand in any potential negotiation.
But independent military analysts say Kyiv has gambled by pulling some of its most effective combat units away from the defence of front lines in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is continuing to advance.
‘DIFFICULT’ SITUATION IN EAST UKRAINE
There was no immediate confirmation by Ukraine that Niu-York was in Russian hands. Ukraine’s General Staff acknowledged Russian troops were attacking near Niu-York but said Ukrainian forces were giving them “a worthy rebuff”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said separately that the situation was “difficult” on Ukraine’s eastern front line, near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk and also close to the city of Toretsk.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook that 14 combat clashes had been reported in the Toretsk area and 34 in the Pokrovsk sector since the start of the day.
Ukrainian officials said Russia had also hit energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine in an overnight missile and drone attack and caused a huge fire in the west of the country, resulting in an increase in chlorine levels in the air.
Separately, Russia said it had summoned a senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow to protest over what it called the “provocative” actions of American journalists who have crossed into the Kursk region from Ukraine to report on the incursion.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had also protested over what it said was emerging evidence of the participation of U.S. private military companies in the invasion of Russian territory by Ukraine. It did not say what evidence it was referring to.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Andrew Osborn and Timothy Heritage)
