Russia's Kursk counteroffensive halted, Kyiv claims
Russia's counterattack in Kursk Oblast aiming to retake Ukrainian-held territory has been stopped, a spokesperson of the Ukrainian military administration in the region told AFP on Sept. 18.
The statement comes a week after Moscow launched a counteroffensive against the western flank of Ukrainian troops in the Russian region.
"They tried to attack from the flanks, but they were stopped there," spokesperson Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi told AFP.
"The situation was stabilized and today everything is under control, they are not successful."
The spokesperson admitted only "some minor successes" by Russia.
"The Russians entered one of the settlements. They started fighting for another settlement, but that was it," he said. Russia claimed to have recaptured 10 settlements only on the first day of the counteroffensive, announcing further advances since then.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.
Ukraine launched its cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in early Aug. 6, allegedly seizing around 100 settlements and over 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles).
Moscow's troops launched the counterattack last week in an effort to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their positions on Russian soil.
Russia has not yet commented on Dmytrashkivskyi's statement but did not mention any new settlements recaptured in its regular update on Sept. 17. Moscow claimed the same day it had repelled several fresh attempts by Ukraine to cross the border in Kursk Oblast west of the Ukrainian salient.
According to the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War, last week, Ukraine made cross-border advances west of its main positions in the Korenevsky and Sudzhansky districts, specifically in the Glushkovsky district near Novy Put in the south and Tetkino in the west.
Despite recent Ukrainian ground attacks, neither side achieved confirmed advances over the past day, the ISW said in its Sept. 17 report.
According to Dmytrashkivskyi, there are still "several thousand" Russian civilians in Ukraine-occupied territories of Kursk Oblast.
"In some settlements, there are more than 100 people, more than 200, more than 500," the spokesperson said.
Kyiv claimed that its conduct in occupied territories is in line with international humanitarian law and invited the U.N. and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to "join the humanitarian efforts."
The Kremlin has denounced the move as "pure provocation."
Dinara Khalilova
