(Moscow) Moscow claimed on Sunday to repel a new Ukrainian offensive in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces already control several hundred square kilometers since an assault in August 2024, a surprise operation two weeks before the return of Donald Trump at the White House.
Posted at 7:17 a.m.
Updated at 6:37 p.m.
The Republican’s inauguration on January 20 has made Ukraine fear a radical reduction in support from the United States and that the next American president, who has sworn to be able to resolve the conflict “in 24 hours”, will force the Ukrainians to make concessions to Vladimir Putin.
In an interview, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was very complimentary of the future American president.
“I see now that when I talk about something with Donald Trump – whether in person or on the phone – all the European leaders ask me ‘how did it go?’ “, he declared in this interview with the American podcaster Lex Fridman, broadcast on Sunday but recorded at the end of December.
PHOTO SAUL LOEB, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President-elect Donald Trump in 2019
“This shows the influence of Donald Trump, and this has never happened before with an American president, in my own experience,” added Volodymyr Zelensky. “It gives you confidence that he can end this war.” »
He said he wanted to meet the future American president to agree on a peace plan before any negotiations with Vladimir Putin: “First with Trump, we agree with him on how to end the war, how to stop Putin. »
“I really count on him”
For Volodymyr Zelensky, when Donald Trump says he wants to end the war, “these are not just words”.
“I really count on him and I think our people really count on him. […] He has enough power to put pressure on him, on Putin,” insisted the Ukrainian president.
On the ground, the Russian army claimed that Kyiv had “launched a counterattack in order to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk area” on Sunday morning.
According to her, “the assault group of the Ukrainian army was defeated by artillery and aviation” and “the operation to destroy units of the Ukrainian forces continues.”
In this area, Russia has been supported for several weeks by thousands of North Korean soldiers, according to the West and Kyiv.
The Ukrainian army has remained silent about the operation, but the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andrii Yermak, broadcast a fairly clear message on Telegram: “Kursk region, good news. Russia gets what it deserves. »
Russians “surprised”
Andriï Kovalenko, an official of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, for his part assured that the Russians had “been attacked from several sides, which surprised them”.
According to the Telegram channel Mash, considered close to the Russian authorities, “the men of the Ukrainian army move in small groups”.
“The total number of their soldiers is 2,000,” she added.
According to Russian military bloggers, well informed of the progress of the hostilities, Ukrainian forces are particularly trying to take control of Berdine, a small town located about 20 kilometers from the border.
PHOTO SOFIIA GATILOVA, ARCHIVES REUTERS
Ukrainian soldiers fire towards Russian troops at a front line position in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, January 3, 2025.
“Repel the enemy”
This new offensive by Kyiv also comes five months after the first in the same Kursk region, which took Russian forces by surprise, a failure for President Vladimir Putin who has praised a “more sovereign” Russia since the start of the assault. of his men against Ukraine in February 2022.
The master of the Kremlin, who appeared irritated on television in August in the wake of the Ukrainian military operation on the soil of his country, had called on the Russian army to “push the enemy” beyond the borders.
Kyiv’s objectives were then to force Moscow to redeploy its troops, attacking the eastern front, to this new battlefield and to strengthen its position at the negotiating table before possible peace talks.
The operation did not have the desired effect: Russian units have been advancing on the Eastern Front since the fall at a speed not seen since March 2022.
PHOTO MAKSYM KISHKA, ARCHIVES REUTERS
Residents stand in front of a house destroyed by a Russian missile strike, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, January 4, 2025.
Despite everything, a highly placed source within the general staff of the Ukrainian army assured at the end of November that it would remain in the Kursk region “as long” as it was “interesting”, specifying that it still controlled at that time “around 800 km2 ».
Elsewhere on the front, Ukrainian authorities in the Donetsk region (east) reported five injured in Russian bombings on Sunday.
