The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Ukraine launched a new attack in the Russian Kursk region.
The military said in a statement that efforts to destroy Ukrainian offensive groups continue. Officials in Ukraine also indicated that the operation is underway.
Ukraine began its incursion for the first time into Russia's Kursk region in August last year, seizing a large portion of the territory.
In recent months, Russian forces have made significant gains in the region, pushing back the Ukrainians, but failing to completely expel them.
“At approximately 9 a.m. Moscow time, in order to stop the offensive of Russian forces in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counterattack by an assault detachment consisting of two elements,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on the Telegram app on Sunday. A tank, an anti-obstacle vehicle, and 12 armored combat vehicles.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said there was “good news from the Kursk region” and that Russia was “getting what it deserves.”
Andriy Kovalenko, Ukraine's top anti-disinformation official, said in… cable Sunday's post: “The Russians in Kursk are very worried because they were attacked from several directions and this came as a surprise to them.”
It is unclear whether the attack was widespread enough to lead to any significant changes on the front line.
Ukrainian forces are reportedly undermanned and losing territory in eastern Ukraine in recent months, as Russian forces advance.
This comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched another drone attack on Ukraine overnight.
It said it shot down 61 drones over the regions of Kiev, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomir and Khmelnitsky.
The Air Force said there were no direct hits, but some homes in the Kharkiv region were damaged by an intercepted drone.
In November, Ukraine announced that its forces were engaged in fighting with North Korean forces in the Kursk region.
The appearance of North Korean soldiers was in response to a surprise attack by Ukrainian forces across the border in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30 kilometers) into Russian territory.
Moscow evacuated about 200,000 people from areas along the border, and President Vladimir Putin condemned the Ukrainian attack, calling it a “major provocation.”
Two weeks later, Ukraine's supreme leader claimed to control more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory and 93 villages.
Russia has regained some of this territory, but Ukraine still has forces in the Kursk region.
