Ukraine says forces battling 50,000 troops in Russia’s Kursk region
Ukraine rushes to reinforce east as pressure mounts in south and Russia’s Kursk
Ukraine said its hard-pressed military was battling 50,000 troops in Russia’s Kursk region to its north, while also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in the east and bracing to meet an infantry assault in the south.
The escalating fighting along a more than 1,000km (620 miles) front line is stretching Ukraine’s already outnumbered troops at a critical moment after Donald Trump won the US election, raising the prospect of possible talks with Russia.
Russia occupies a fifth of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin has said he wants Kyiv to drop ambitions to join the Nato military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, something Kyiv says is tantamount to capitulation.
Ukraine’s armed forces commander General Oleksandr Syrskyi said he travelled to the front in Russia’s Kursk region where a surprise Ukrainian incursion carved out a chunk of land in August that President Volodymyr Zelensky said could be used as a bargaining chip.
“(Russian forces) are trying to dislodge our troops and advance deep into the territory we control,” he said on Telegram on Monday.