Ukrainian troops have retreated from the villages of Darino and Nikolayevo-Darino as Russia’s counteroffensive intensifies.
Russian forces have retaken two villages in Kursk near the border with Ukraine following heavy fighting over the past month.
Ukrainian troops pulled back from the villages of Darino and Nikolayevo-Darino, the latter of which directly borders Ukraine, a Russian commander
said.
“Our entire front has moved forward,” said Maj. Gen. Apti Alaudinov, adding that Russian forces were also advancing in eastern Ukraine.
Alaudinov
serves in the Russian National Guard’s 141st Motorized Regiment and as the head of the Defense Ministry’s military-political department. He was responsible for overseeing the integration of Wagner mercenaries into the Russian armed forces following a brief but dramatic
uprising against military leadership in 2023.
Ukraine launched its offensive into Kursk in early August, keeping the operation and its purpose a secret even from allies such as the United States. The offensive was the largest incursion into Russian territory since World War II.
The bold move led Russian authorities to
declare a state of emergency in the neighboring Belgorod region and, for a time, Russian forces struggled to retake any territory from the Ukrainian troops occupying parts of Kursk.
That state of affairs has begun to change, with Russia launching a major counteroffensive earlier this month.
The two villages seized by Russia are about nine miles from the former front lines established by Ukrainian forces in August and could give Russia a position from which to attack Sverdlikovo, where Ukrainian forces have staged a logistical center for the operation.
Russian forces also
captured the Ukrainian town of Ukrainsk in the eastern Donetsk region on Tuesday as they advanced westward in a bid to take the whole of the Donbas, Russian state-run RIA news agency and pro-Russian war bloggers reported.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military acknowledged that Russia had launched 34 attacks in the eastern parts of Ukraine but did not confirm the capture of Ukrainsk.
Russia’s new momentum could turn the tide against Ukraine in a larger way, as Western intelligence leaders have characterized the Kursk incursion as a gambit that could undermine the assumptions of leaders in either Russia or Ukraine, depending on the outcome of the operation.
CIA Director Bill Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore spoke earlier in the month and
characterized the Kursk offensive as a pivotal event that could push Russian leadership to question the legitimacy of the war if Ukraine was not defeated there.
Reuters contributed to this report
