UKRAINIAN OFFENSIVE STOPPED IN RUSSIAN KURSK REGION

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue ground operations in the Russian Kursk region. As a result of two days of heavy battles, the Ukrainian offensive was paralyzed. Some Ukrainian assault groups were stopped and contained by positional fighting, the others were already retreating. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian military lost almost 1000 servicemen killed and wounded as a result of military operations in this direction. The frontlines are changing fast in the Kursk region. On the morning of August 9, Russian forces reportedly launched a counterattack north of Sudzha. Battles were ongoing in the village of Malaya Loknya. After the Armed Forces of Ukraine took control of the town of Sudzha, their assault groups on armored vehicles attempted to advance further eastward along the road. The attacks failed. According to the latest reports from the battlefield, Ukrainian forces were repelled back to Sudzha and took defense in the village of Goncharovka on the western outskirts. The Russian military command sent reinforcements to the area, including the Chechen special forces, who entered the town and are mopping up the streets destroying the Ukrainian grouping. The Russian special forces in the Kursk region are aimed at restraining the enemy’s actions in order to gain time for the approach of combined army reserves. The Ukrainian military is also sending large forces to the Russian border areas in an attempt to hold its defense in the captured settlements. The warring sides are hunting on each other’s vehicles moving to the front. At night, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched precision strikes with the US-made HIMARS MLRS armed with cluster munitions. As a result, a Russian military column was destroyed near Rylsk. At night, the Russian and Ukrainian militaries exchanged massive strikes in each other’s rear areas. Russian drones and missiles attacked targets in the eastern and central Ukrainian regions. Russian strikes were reported in the Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhie, Kirovograd and Poltava regions. At the same time, massive Russian strikes are pounding the Sumy region where the Ukrainian military accumulated forces for military operations in the Russian border areas. In their turn, the Armed Forces of Ukraine resumed massive drone strikes in the Russian border regions to support the ongoing operations in the Kursk region. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in total 75 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed last night. Another night attack was repelled in Sevastopol. Russian forces destroyed UAVs, unmanned boats and at least one Neptune missile. No damage was reported. Kyiv also does not give up attempts to ignite a new hotbed of hostilities in the Russian rear. On the night of August 9, 12 more Ukrainian fighters were destroyed as a result of a failed landing operation on the Kirburn Spit in the Kherson region.