Ukraine launches incursion into Russia's Kursk region, casualties unknown

Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Ukraine has launched a military counterattack in the southern Russian Kursk region, a move officials said was designed to stop a Russian offensive.

A Russian media outlet said a reporter was killed in the strike. The Russian media outlet Izvestia said its journalist had been killed near the city of Donetsk in the eastern part of Ukraine.

"Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves," Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said in a Telegram post Sunday.

The head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, Andrii Kovalenko, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk, months after launching its incursion in the region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that the attacks had been repelled, adding that a Ukrainian assault including two tanks and a dozen armored vehicles had been defeated near the village of Berdin, 9 miles from the border. The ministry added that Russian forces had used air power to respond to the attacks, local media reported.

It is the latest in a series of military assaults and counterattacks between the two countries since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago.

Ukrainian troops broke across the border on 6 August and had defended a piece of territory that provided Kyiv with an important bargaining chip in potential peace talks.

The possible motive behind Ukraine's decision for the Sunday attack could be the same, to improve its hand and the amount of land it occupies ahead of any potential future ceasefire negotiations.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday battles near the village of Machnovka cost the Russian army at least a battalion of North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers. A battalion is normally several hundred troops.

Ukrainian and Western sources have said that at least 211,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy areas of territory after staging the cross-border incursion.