MOSCOW: Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.
Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.
“The situation is good for us,” said Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defense ministry’s military-political department.
“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated,” he said.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions on both sides of the war. Russia’s defense ministry said it had defeated Ukrainian units at a number of villages in Kursk.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles), a figure disputed by Russian sources.
Yuri Podolyaka, an Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, and two other influential bloggers — Rybar and the Two Majors — said that Russian forces had begun a significant counter-offensive in Kursk.
“In the Kursk region, the Russian Army launched counter-offensive actions on the western flank of the enemy’s wedge, reducing the Ukrainian zone of control near the state border,” the Two Majors blog said.
Podolyaka said that Russian forces had taken several villages on the west of the sliver of Russia that Ukraine carved out, pushing Ukrainian forces to the east of the Malaya Loknya River south of Snagost.
Russian forces also advanced in eastern Ukraine, and were fighting in the center of the town of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, according to Russian war bloggers and open source maps of the war.
Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
https://arab.news/96e3v
Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
- Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control
- “A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated”
South Korea scrambles jets after Russian, Chinese planes approach
- The Russian and Chinese aircraft entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone around 10 a.m. local time
- Since 2019, China and Russia have regularly flown military aircraft into South Korea’s air defense zone without prior notice
SEOUL: South Korea said it had sent up fighter jets on Tuesday after seven Russian and two Chinese military aircraft entered its air defense zone.
The Russian and Chinese aircraft entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) around 10 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
None of the planes violated South Korean airspace, they said.
Seoul said it deployed “fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any contingencies” in response.
The planes flew in and out of the zone for an hour before leaving, the military said, according to Yonhap.
The planes were spotted before they entered the air defense identification zone, defined as a broader area in which countries police aircraft for security reasons but which does not constitute their airspace.
China’s defense ministry later said it had organized drills with Russia’s military according to “annual cooperation plans.”
The drills took place Tuesday above the East China Sea and western Pacific Ocean, the ministry said, calling the exercises their “10th joint strategic air patrol.”
Since 2019, China and Russia have regularly flown military aircraft into South Korea’s air defense zone without prior notice, citing joint exercises.
In November last year, Seoul scrambled jets as five Chinese and six Russian military planes flew through its air defense zone.
Similar incidents occurred in June and December 2023, and in May and November 2022.
China and Russia have expanded military and defense ties since Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago.
Both are also traditional allies of North Korea, Seoul’s arch-foe.
