Russia said its forces had recaptured 10 settlements after launching a counter-offensive in the Kursk region to push out Ukrainian troops who stormed across the border five weeks ago.
The Russian Defense Ministry named 10 settlements that the Russians allegedly recaptured, a significant blow to Kiev. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that the Russian counter-offensive has begun.
It followed a surprise cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces into western Russia last month. Zelensky said his armed forces had anticipated a Russian counterattack this week and that the Ukrainian operation was going according to plan.
The mechanized attack began on Tuesday, according to Russian military bloggers. Russian forces advanced rapidly from the village of Korenjevo and rapidly penetrated southeast into Snagost, the "Guardian" reported.
Putin said yesterday that the West would fight Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles of Western manufacture, which, he said, would change the nature and scope of the conflict.
They recaptured at least 10 settlements, and two more, Krasnooktjabrskoye and Komarovka, were reportedly captured yesterday. One of the goals was to "cut" the 1.000-square-kilometer Ukrainian outpost inside Russia by cutting off the western arm, observers assume.
The next step would be a more organized effort to drive Ukrainian forces out of Russia entirely, the Institute for the Study of War said, saying the scope of the counterattack was unclear.
Russia is making progress in Kursk as its troops advance rapidly in eastern Donetsk. They reportedly captured another village on the outskirts of Pokrovskoe, a key Ukrainian logistics center, and were only eight km from that city.
Yesterday, three Ukrainians who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed in Russian shelling, and two were wounded in the village of Viroljuvka in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials announced.
The president of the ICRC, Mirjana Špoljarić Eger, said that her workers distributed wood and coal to vulnerable households before winter and strongly condemned the attack on Red Cross personnel.
Ukraine yesterday accused Russia of using strategic bombers to attack a civilian grain ship in a missile attack in Black Sea waters near NATO member Romania, escalating tensions between Moscow and the military alliance, Reuters reported.
Zelensky said that a ship carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt was hit by a Russian missile the night before last, just after it left Ukrainian territorial waters. He said that there were no victims.
American President Joe Biden will today discuss the deterioration of the military and humanitarian situation in Ukraine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will pay a short visit to Washington. The meeting is taking place after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and British Foreign Minister David Lammy spoke with Zelensky in Kiev.
Blinken hinted at a press conference after the meeting that the US would soon lift some restrictions on the use of US long-range weapons against key military targets inside Russia. British government sources said similar attacks by British "storm shadow" cruise missiles would be approved.
President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the West would fight Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, which he said would change the nature and scope of the conflict.
Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, said that American guided missiles, such as "Atacms", will not be able to reach all locations where Russia has launched some of its assets. He added: "The quantity of 'Atacms' missiles is limited, and we have to be judicious about where and when they are used."
Russia launched another large-scale drone and missile attack early yesterday, setting off air raid sirens across Ukraine. The town of Konotop, a rail hub in Sumy Oblast that Kiev used as a base for its Kursk offensive, reported extensive damage.
Local officials said at least 14 people were injured. Rescuers worked to restore electricity to the city, which before the war had about 83.000 inhabitants.
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