Ukraine war toll: Heavy fighting reported in Russia’s Kursk region amid new Ukrainian offensive | Ukraine

Russia says Ukraine has launched a new attack in the Kursk region in western Russia. where Russian troops have been trying for five months to expel Ukrainian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces were pushing back Ukrainian forces, but Russian military bloggers reported heavy fighting and some said the Russian side had come under heavy pressure. Ukraine’s General Staff said 42 clashes took place in the Kursk region on Sunday, and 12 continued. The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, posted on Telegram that there was “good news” from Kursk, adding: “Russia is getting what it deserves.” » The Russian ministry said Ukraine attacked around 0600 GMT near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a mine clearance vehicle and 12 armored fighting vehicles accompanied by paratroopers. He said two Ukrainian attacks had been repelled. Reports from the battlefield could not be independently verified.

The Ukrainian army has not commented on the operationsimply stating in its daily report that fighting was underway in the Kursk region, without further details. Zelensky said Saturday that in two days of fighting near the Kursk village of Makhnovka, “the Russian army lost to a battalion of North Korean infantrymen and Russian paratroopers.” Ukraine launched a cross-border raid in the Kursk region last August and the Russian army has since reconquered only about 40% of the lost territory. The new Ukrainian offensive comes as both sides seek to strengthen their negotiating power ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20. Zelensky suggests that the land around Kursk could play a role in any peace deal.

Zelensky said security guarantees for kyiv to end Russian war would only be effective if the United States provided themand that he hoped to meet with Trump soon after his inauguration. He said the Ukrainians were counting on Trump to force Moscow to end its war and that Russia would experience an escalation in Europe if Washington left the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance. In an interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman on Sunday, the Ukrainian president also renewed his call for Ukraine to join NATO.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Sunday that it heard loud explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.coinciding with reports of a drone attack on the plant’s training center, the head of the nuclear watchdog said. No impact has yet been confirmed, Rafael Mariano Grossi said, adding that there were no casualties or impact on equipment.

One person was killed and another injured during Russian bombing of the town of Nikopol in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. Sunday, local officials said. Down the Dnieper River, at least six people were injured when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, the capital of the Kherson region. Moscow sent 103 drones to Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian officials said, with the Ukrainian air force saying 61 drones were destroyed and 42 lost, likely due to electronic jamming. The Russian Defense Ministry said 61 Ukrainian drones were shot down in western Russia. No casualties were reported, but Rostov regional governor Yuri Slyusar said residential buildings and cars were damaged by falling drone debris.

Dozens of marine mammals have been found dead since a Russian oil tanker spilled in the Black Sea last month, a dolphin rescue center said as authorities raced to contain the disaster.. The oil spill began on December 15, when two aging Russian oil tankers were caught in a storm off the Kerch Strait, linking Crimea to southern Russia. One sank and the other ran aground, spilling about 2,400 tons of heavy fuel oil into surrounding waters, authorities estimate. Russia’s Delfa center, which rescues and rehabilitates dolphins, said on Sunday it had recorded 61 deaths of cetaceans – a type of aquatic mammal that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises – since the incident.