KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces say they have used U.S.-supplied precision glide bombs in attacks on Russia’s Kursk region and also claim to have recaptured some territory in the eastern Kharkiv region where Russia launched an offensive in the spring.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oreshchuk, released a video on Thursday night that he said showed an attack on a Russian platoon base in the Kursk Region. He said the attack, which involved a GBU-39 bomb, killed and wounded Russian troops and destroyed equipment.
Video showed multiple explosions and smoke rising from the scene.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said its forces had advanced about two square kilometers (about three-quarters of a square mile) in the Kharkiv area. No details about the timing, size or scope of the offensive were released, making it difficult to predict whether it will have any further impact on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian military received new momentum this month after delayed arms deliveries from the United States were finally released. Kiev launched a surprise attack on the Kursk region of western Russia on Aug. 6, while also intensifying drone attacks on military and fuel facilities that have sparked fires deep into Russia this week.
New details emerged Friday about the damage and injuries caused by these attacks.
A Ukrainian drone attack targeting a Russian airbase in Ukraine’s Volgograd Oblast caused extensive damage to the airfield believed to have stored glide bombs used by Moscow in the war, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Friday showed.
Meanwhile, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported on Friday that a cargo ferry was attacked on Thursday in the port of Caucasus in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, wounding 13 people. Citing a health official, TASS quoted four of the injured as saying they were in hospital and another person was missing.
Ukraine’s interests Transformed the battlefield And it has boosted Ukrainian morale 10 years after Russia first invaded Ukraine and two and a half years since Moscow launched a major invasion that caused mass death and destruction and created Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
Ukraine and its Western allies hope a regained momentum will strengthen Kiev’s diplomatic position.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in Kiev, closely watched by the Ukrainian president, who hopes that Modi, who maintains friendly and economic ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, will play a role in building cooperation with Ukraine. Brokered peace.
The invasion of Russia exposed Russian weaknesses but also stretched Ukrainian forces already fighting along hundreds of kilometers of front lines, undermining Ukraine’s ability to thwart the Russians’ slow but steady expansion in the Donetsk region and potentially diverting Ukrainian forces from strengthening their defenses there.
It is unclear how long Ukraine will be able to hold on to the land it has seized in Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that its forces had repelled an advance on the villages of Borki and Malaya Loknya in the Kursk Region. The ministry also reported that it had eliminated a reconnaissance and sabotage group near Kamyshevka, 20 kilometers north of the town of Suzha, which Ukrainian forces had occupied.
Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said in a statement late on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had seized the area and several bases previously held by a Russian battalion.
Brigade commander Andriy Biletsky said they had attacked superior Russian forces and “won the victory,” adding that the battlefield forces were 2.5 to 1 in Moscow’s favor.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim, and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region in May that met with some success but quickly stalled, and fighting there has tapered off as Russian forces focus on Donetsk, part of the industrial Donbas region that Moscow has formally annexed but does not fully control.
Russia’s advance on Kharkiv in the spring was seen as a sign of Ukraine’s weakening position as Western military aid delayed.
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Gera contributed from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
