Ukraine-Russia live: Ukraine launches new counter-attack as Moscow rushes top general to front line
Published 5 January 2025
Russia has rushed its top general to the Kursk region to personally oversee defence against Ukraine’s surprise counteroffensive.
Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, one of Vladimir Putin’s favourite generals and the deputy defence minister, arrived at 10am this morning.
It came after the Russian ministry of defence admitted that Kyiv had launched a counteroffensive, but insisted it was “continuing to defeat” Ukrainian forces.
According to Russian military bloggers, Ukrainian forces launched attacks from Cherkasskoe Porechnoe toward Berdin in the Kursk Oblast, sending minesweepers to clear routes towards Russian lines.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian presidential administration head, earlier wrote on Telegram: “Kurshchyna, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Ukrainian troops first broke across the border in a surprise incursion on Aug 6, and for the past five months have resisted Russian attempts to fully expel them. Russian forces have recaptured more than half the area taken by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, and have steadily pushed back Kyiv’s forces along the main frontline in the eastern Donbas region.