Ukraine-Russia latest: Kyiv disputes that Putin’s forces have captured frontline Kurakhove as Kursk battle rages
Ukraine’s army has said it is clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk that Russia claims to have captured.
The Ukrainian army accused Russia of using scorched-earth tactics to “completely destroy” it.
“Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town,” Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia army unit, which is fighting in the area, said in an interview on national TV. “They are actually trying to dismantle the town brick by brick,” Mr Tregubov said.
It comes as Russia has suffered heavy losses in five months of fighting Ukrainian forces in its border Kursk region, with nearly 15,000 of Vladimir Putin’s troops killed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.
“During the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost 38,000 of their soldiers… with nearly 15,000 of these losses being irreversible,” Mr Zelensky said. Ukraine launched its surprise incursion inside Russia’s Kursk in August last year.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian soldiers renewed their offensive in a bid to gain as much territory as possible before Donald Trump enters office in Washington.
