Russia claims capture of eastern Ukrainian town as fighting rages in Kursk

By Maria Kostenko, Christian Edwards, Nick Paton Walsh and Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN

(CNN) — Russia has claimed that its forces captured a battered but strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, while the Ukrainian military said it struck a command post during its counterattack in the Russian region of Kursk.

After months of intense fighting, Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday said its troops had “completely liberated” Kurakhove, a small industrial town that is a stepping stone to the key city of Pokrovsk and wider southern frontlines. But a Ukrainian official has cast doubt on Russia’s claims, saying fighting in the town continued on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Kyiv has renewed its offensive in Kursk, where its troops have been holding territory after launching a shock incursion last summer. Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday that it had conducted a precision strike on a Russian military command post near the town of Belaya.

Despite both sides being drained after nearly three years of war, frontline fighting has ramped up in recent weeks. With Donald Trump set to return to the White House this month – promising to end the war in a day, without saying how – Moscow and Kyiv appear to be making an 11th-hour push to gobble up territory and strengthen their negotiating hands ahead of potential peace talks.

Kurakhove has been pummeled in recent weeks as Russian troops circle in on Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub that, if lost, would hamper Ukraine’s ability to hold onto territory in Donetsk. Kurakhove is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Pokrovsk, and is the latest in a string of towns claimed by Russia.

Ukraine’s “Khortytsia” operational and strategic grouping said their troops were countering Russia’s attempts “to exercise their numerical superiority and develop an offensive.” It said Russian troops were fighting in parts of the town.

Viktor Tregubov, spokesperson for Khortytsia, said that fighting had continued Tuesday morning in the western part of Kurakhove and near the town’s thermal power plant.

“Despite reports from Russian forces that the town is under their complete control and captured, we have not confirmed this information,” Tregubov told CNN.

CNN has been unable to verify the claims independently.

Ukrainian military bloggers have shared differing accounts of Russia’s gains and the success of Ukraine’s defensive strategy.

One blogger, Yuriy Butusov, wrote that Kurakhove has been “virtually lost” despite “heroic” efforts by Ukraine’s forces. He said troops were still defending key industrial areas, including the power plant.

Russian state media on Monday said Ukrainian troops had been “pushed back from parts of the premises” of the power plant, citing sources in Russian security structures, but that fighting was still underway. “A lot of work in the industrial zone is still ahead,” the sources were quoted as saying.

Butusov questioned the wisdom of Ukrainian military command’s attempts to defend Kurakhove, saying it risked “repeating the same pattern” as in Soledar, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar – cities in eastern Ukraine that eventually fell after weeks or months of resistance to Russia’s “meat-grinder” assaults, during which it inflicted huge losses on Moscow’s troops but sustained high casualties of its own.

Another blogger, Bohdan Miroshnikov, praised Ukrainian troops for performing “miracles” in Kurakhove. “It costs us a lot, but it prevents the enemy from causing more trouble,” the blogger said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is counterattacking in Kursk, despite efforts by Russian and recently deployed North Korean troops to drive Ukrainian units back across the border. Ukrainian forces struck Russian troops in several locations in Kursk over the weekend, with a senior official saying that Russia is “getting what it deserves.”

Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it had struck Russia’s 810th Separate Marine Brigade in Belaya, southeast of the part of Kursk occupied by Ukrainian troops.

Although Kyiv’s troops quickly advanced through Kursk in the summer – in the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II – Russia eventually managed to push the forces back. The lines had been mostly static for weeks before Ukraine’s latest push.

In his daily address Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were maintaining a “buffer zone” on Russian territory.

“Since the beginning of the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost over 38,000 troops in this area alone, including approximately 15,000 irrecoverable losses,” he said.

He said the Kursk offensive was important in preventing Russian from redirecting its troops to Donetsk and other regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

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