Ukraine launched a new attack on Russia’s Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said that efforts to destroy groups that have attacked Ukraine are ongoing. Ukrainian officials also suggested that the operation should continue.
Ukraine first launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing part of the region.
In recent months, Russian forces have made significant gains in the area, pushing back the Ukrainians, but failing to completely dislodge them.
In a statement sent to Telegram on Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said: “At around 09:00 Moscow time, in order to stop the attack of Russian troops near Kursk, the enemy launched an attack with two tanks, one anti-obstacle vehicle, and 12 armored fighting vehicles.”
Many Russian military correspondents provided more details about the attack, saying it was launched in the Ukrainian region of Sudzha near the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, a regional center on the way to the city of Kursk.
The head of the office of the president of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that there is “good news from the Kursk Region” and that Russia is “getting what it deserves”.
The chief counter-disinformation officer in Ukraine Andriy Kovalenko said in a Telegram posted on Sunday: “The Russians in Kursk are facing great anxiety because they were attacked in several ways and took them by surprise.”
It’s unclear whether the attack is big enough to lead to any significant changes on the front line.
Russian blogger Yury Podolyaka said that the operation may have been separate, while another, Alexander Kots, did not rule out that the main attack could be launched elsewhere.
Kyiv’s military is reportedly understaffed and has been losing ground in eastern Ukraine in recent months, as Russian forces approach.
It comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched another attack on Ukraine overnight.
It said it shot down 61 drones in Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyy regions.
There were no direct hits, but several houses were damaged in the Kharkiv region by the intercepted drone, the air force said.
In November, Ukraine reported that its forces engaged North Korean forces in the Kursk region.
The appearance of North Korean troops was due to a surprise attack launched by Ukrainian troops in August, reaching 18 miles (30km) of Russian territory.
Moscow has evacuated nearly 200,000 people from border areas and President Vladimir Putin has condemned the attack on Ukraine as “a major provocation”.
Two weeks later, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief claimed control of more than 1,200 Russian territories and 93 villages.
Some of that land has been reclaimed by Russia.