Ukrainian forces have resisted a five-day onslaught by Vladimir Putin’s army to try to force them out of a swathe of Russia that they captured, says Volodymyr Zelensky.
He told how Russian soldiers had sought to break through Ukrainian lines in the part of Russia that they seized in a surprise offensive in early August.
The Ukrainian president said that his forces had repelled the attacks for five days and launched counter-offensives.
“For five days now, the Russians have been trying to break through our defence in the Kursk region. Our guys are standing firm and counterattacking,” Mr Zelensky said on X after holding a meeting with Ukraine’s top commander.
His claims could not be independently verified, and Russia says it has seized back some villages recently.
Ukraine, and its allies in the West, are engaged in an information war with Russia so its claims need to be treated with caution but are more believable than the Kremlin propaganda.
Ukrainian armed units swept through Russia’s western region’s border on August 6 and rapidly secured control of 500 square miles of territory, with over 100 settlements.
The initial advance has stalled, and Moscow said it took back several settlements last week.
But the Ukrainian troops, with armed vehicles and air defences, have defied expectations that they would be swiftly forced to retreat from the captured land.
Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook the Kursk operation was going on while Moscow’s troops continued hitting Russian territories with guided bombs.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said it was pursuing offensive operations at several dozen locations in the region and its glide bombs had struck a concentration of Ukrainian troops.
The previous Wednesday, the ministry said two villages had been brought back under Russian control.
Mr Zelensky also described battles in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in Ukraine’s east, where Russian troops have steadily advanced, as “particularly fierce”.
Russia has been gradually seizing more territory in the Donetsk province of the eastern Donbas region, but suffering heavy losses as its forces advance.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops have been killed or wounded, with high casualties also among Ukraine’s military, as well as thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians having been killed in Putin’s war launched in February 2022.
The conflict has seen the rapid use of drone warfare.
Mr Zelensky said a million drones had now been manufactured for his frontline forces.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed newly imposed European Union sanctions against Iran over weapons transfers to Russia.
“Military assistance to an aggressor violates international law and the UN Charter. Those who support aggression must share responsibility and pay the price,” he said on X.
The West has accused Iran of supplying large numbers of drones, as well as short-range missiles, to Putin’s military.
Mr Zelensky has pleaded with America, and its allies, for permission to fire long-range missiles, supplied by the West including Britain’s Storm Shadows, deep into Russia to target air bases from where missions are being launched to target Ukrainian towns and cities with “glide bombs” with devastating effects.
