Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted on X that fighting is going on along the entire frontline, “with particularly fierce battles unfolding in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions.” The Ukrainian president also noted that Ukrainian forces have been under pressure in Kursk for five days, saying “the Russians have been trying to break through our defense in the Kursk region. Our guys are standing firm and counterattacking.”
According to Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Olexander Syrskyj, Moscow has now withdrawn almost 50,000 soldiers from the frontlines in southern Ukraine and moved them to Kursk for counterattacks, Die Welt reports.
At the beginning of August, Ukraine crossed Russia’s western border and claimed to have gained control over 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory with over 100 settlements. However, Russia has reported that it recaptured several settlements last week.
The commander of the Russian Spetsnaz unit “Akhmat,” General Apty Alaudinov, is saying that almost half of the areas captured by Ukraine near Kursk have been brought back under Russian control. “Today, we note that about half of the territory occupied by the enemy has been liberated,” the state agency Tass quoted him as saying.
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported the capture of a settlement in the Zaporizhia region in southern Ukraine. Army units had “liberated the settlement of Levadnoye” and “taken up more favorable positions,” it announced, although this has not been verified by an independent source.
Levadnoye, or Levadne in Ukrainian, had been taken over by Ukraine in the summer of 2023 during a counteroffensive.
Zelensky also posted yesterday about ongoing discussions regarding Ukraine joining the NATO alliance, as well as his so-called Victory Plan.
“This week, we will present our strategy to compel Russia to a just end to the war to all our European partners,” he wrote on X.
