‘Getting what it deserves’: Ukraine issues stern warning to Russia amid surprise counter-attack

Ukraine has launched a surprise new counter-attack on a Russian region after Kyiv’s forces began a shock ground offensive last year.

Ukraine has launched a surprise new counter-attack on a Russian western border region, warning the country is “getting what it deserves”. 

Ukrainian forces launched attacks against Russia across Kursk on Sunday, where Kyiv’s forces began a shock ground offensive last August.

It was not immediately clear how much Ukraine had advanced in the region, but pro-Kremlin military bloggers reported earlier that a powerful new offensive was underway.

“Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves,” Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.

Ukrainian forces launched attacks against Russian forces across Kursk on Sunday. Picture: Ben Birchall/ Pool/AFP

The Russian defence ministry said: “At about 9.00am Moscow time (0600 GMT), in order to halt the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counter-attack”.

The Ukrainian army, meanwhile, did not comment on the operation, and simply said in its daily report that fighting was underway in the Kursk region, without giving further details.

Ukraine used two tanks, a dozen armoured vehicles and a demolition unit in the assault, which was headed towards the village of Berdin, about 15 kilometres northeast of Sudzha, it added.

“The operation to destroy the Ukrainian army formations continues,” it said. 

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers admitted the Russian army had come under pressure, but said Moscow was fighting back.

“The main events of the next attempted offensive by the Ukrainian army are clearly still ahead of us,” influential pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar said.

A 2024 photograph of a damaged statue of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, in the Kursk region. Picture: Yan Dobronosov/AFP

Images purportedly showing a column of Ukrainian armoured vehicles driving through the snow were shared by pro-Russia military blogger Dva Mayora on Telegram.

The assault comes at a critical juncture in the nearly three-year conflict, with both sides seeking to strengthen their negotiating hand ahead of the return of US President-elect Donald Trump – who has promised a quick ceasefire – to the White House on January 20.

Incumbent President Joe Biden’s administration has unveiled almost $6 billion in military and budget aid for Ukraine ahead of the Republican’s inauguration.

A 2024 photograph of a damaged building in the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, in the Kursk region. Picture: Yan Dobronosov/AFP

Attack ‘from several directions’ 

Ukrainian officials gave little detail on the new offensive, with a prominent politician urging silence.

“I can’t understand why it is necessary to officially report on the Kursk region. Maybe better to do it afterwards when the operation is over?” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said.

The head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said on Telegram defence forces were “working” in the area, without elaborating.

“In the Kursk region, the Russians are very worried because they were attacked from several directions, and it was a surprise for them,” he said.

Kyiv seized dozens of villages in the Kursk region shortly after its incursion started on August 6, 2024, but its advances stalled after Moscow rushed reinforcements to the area, including thousands of troops from its ally North Korea.

A Ukrainian army source told AFP last November that Kyiv still controlled 800 square kilometres of the Russian border region, down from previous claims it controlled almost 1400 square kilometres.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last year the Kursk operation has boosted Kyiv’s “exchange fund” – its negotiating position on swapping prisoners of war – and diverted tens of thousands of Russian troops away from the eastern front.

He said on Saturday evening that “up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian airborne troops” had been lost in battles in the Kursk region on that day and the day before.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said “up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian airborne troops” had been lost in battles in the Kursk region. Picture: John Thys/AFP

But Kyiv has so far been unable to halt Moscow’s advances in Ukraine, which were seven times higher in 2024 than the year prior, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia said on Sunday it downed dozens of Ukrainian drones overnight in a barrage that damaged homes and triggered air alerts, while Kyiv said Moscow fired 103 drones into its territory.

Four Russian airports briefly suspended traffic early on Sunday for “safety” reasons, forcing at least eight planes to divert course, a spokesperson for Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.