Ukraine doubled down on its offensive into Russia by ordering forces to try to take more Russian territory. The new push follows Washington counseling Kiev to retreat from Russian territory before its forces are encircled. 

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, “At around 9am Moscow time, in order to stop the offensive by the Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counter-attack by an assault detachment consisting of two tanks, one counter-obstacle vehicle, and 12 armored fighting vehicles.” Ukrainian officials unofficially confirmed the offensive. 

South Front reported that Ukrainian forces captured some forested territory from the Russians. 

In August, Kiev launched a surprise offensive against lightly defended Russian territory, seizing a large portion of the Kursk Oblast. After the initial Ukrainian push, Russian forces slowly recaptured about half of the territory from Ukraine. 

The AP reported that the Russian gains have demoralized Ukrainian forces. 

Recently, the Russian offensive has been making more progress. At the end of December, the White House told Ukrainian leaders to pull their forces from Russia before their retreat was cut off. 

The fighting in Kursk is escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow as Kiev is using long-range US missiles to support its operations inside of Russia. On Friday, Ukraine fired US-provided ATACMS missiles at a Russian base in the Belgorod Oblast, with Russia subsequently vowing “retaliation.”

The new offensive comes as Kiev is pushing its Western backers for more air defenses. “We will discuss this with them and continue to persuade them,” Ukrainian President Zelensky on Saturday. “The task remains unchanged: strengthening our air defense.”