Russian troops have liberated two villages in Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Ukrainian forces have been expelled from Novaya Sorochina, 15km north of the town of Sudzha. Russian troops have also retaken Nikolsky, a small populated area in the southwest of the Ukraine-controlled pocket of Kursk Region.
The Defense Ministry shared footage from Nikolsky, showing assault groups advancing on the area in BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.
The Ukrainian personnel were pushed back from their positions, and retreated in disarray, the ministry said.
Kiev launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in early August, seizing the town of Sudzha and several nearby villages. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has claimed the operation was part of a “victory plan,” intended to strengthen Kiev’s hand in potential talks with Moscow.
The Ukrainian attack on Kursk lost its momentum in a matter of days, and the situation turned into a weeks-long stalemate. Since mid-September, the Russian military has been conducting counteroffensive operations, and has regained control over multiple towns and villages.
According to Russian estimates, Ukraine has lost 21,350 troops, killed or wounded, while sustaining heavy materiel losses in the offensive. Up to 136 tanks, 66 infantry armored vehicles, 98 armored personnel carriers, and nearly 900 other Ukrainian armored vehicles, have been destroyed during the hostilities in Kursk Region.