Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a counter-attack in the Kursk region, an area of western Russia from which Russian troops have been trying to eject Ukrainian forces for the past five months.
Ukrainian troops broke across the border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6 and have managed to hold on to a chunk of territory there, which could provide Kyiv with an important bargaining chip in potential peace talks.
"Around 9:00 Moscow time (0600 GMT), in order to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counterattack with an assault group consisting of two tanks, a mine clearing vehicle, and twelve armored combat vehicles with paratroops towards Berdin village," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.