Ukraine-Russia latest: Kyiv disputes that Putin’s forces have captured frontline Kurakhove as Kursk battle rages
Ukraine’s general staff says it is conducting new offensives in the Russian border region of Kursk
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukraine's army has said it is clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk that Russia claims to have captured.
The Ukrainian army accused Russia of using scorched-earth tactics to "completely destroy" it.
"Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town," Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia army unit, which is fighting in the area, said in an interview on national TV. "They are actually trying to dismantle the town brick by brick," Mr Tregubov said.
It comes as Russia has suffered heavy losses in five months of fighting Ukrainian forces in its border Kursk region, with nearly 15,000 of Vladimir Putin’s troops killed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.
“During the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost 38,000 of their soldiers... with nearly 15,000 of these losses being irreversible,” Mr Zelensky said. Ukraine launched its surprise incursion inside Russia’s Kursk in August last year.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian soldiers renewed their offensive in a bid to gain as much territory as possible before Donald Trump enters office in Washington.
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Ukrainian pilot destroys six miles in one sortie
A Ukrainian pilot flying a Western F-16 fighter jet has shot down six Russian missiles in one sortie, the Ukrainian defence ministry has announced.
The pilot shot down the cruise missiles during a Russian aerial attack involving more than 200 missiles and drones on 13 December last year.
Nearly half of Russian attacks in past day staged in Kursk
Nearly half of all of Russia’s attacks in the past day were launched in its own region of Kursk as it looks to blunt a fresh Ukrainian counteroffensive in the area, Kyiv’s military has claimed.
In its latest update, the Ukrainian general staff said Russia launched 94 assaults in Kursk. In total, they launched 218 attacks across the entire, roughly 640-mile frontline.
They added that Russia launched 67 attacks at the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the Donetsk region, where Moscow has been advancing slowly over the past year.
In total, that means that 74 per cent of all Russian attacks yesterday were launched in Kursk, Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
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Russia says its troops improve positions, repel Ukrainian attacks
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its central, western and eastern troop groupings had repelled Ukrainian counter-attacks in the last 24 hours and improved their positions.
Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia.
However, open-source war trackers suggest that Ukraine have made confirmed gains in Kursk.
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Russian forces are advancing in the east, slowly but surely, and they are shrinking Ukraine’s partial hold of the border region of Kursk
Trump's Ukraine envoy postpones Kyiv trip until after inauguration
US president-elect Donald Trump's incoming Ukraine envoy has postponed a fact-finding trip to Kyiv and other European capitals until after Trump's inauguration on 20 January, according to four sources with knowledge of the trip's planning.
Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who is set to serve as Mr Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, had initially planned a mission to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders in early January, Reuters reported last month. His team was also setting up meetings with officials in other European capitals, including Rome and Paris.
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions in surprise assault
Ukraine’s top presidential advisor, Andriy Yermak, says the fresh counterattack is what Russia deserves
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