Ukraine launches a new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, advances 2.7 kilometers on the first day. Ukraine shoots down two Kh-59 missiles, 80 drones that Russia launches overnight. Zelenskyi says he would need to sit down with Trump before talking to Putin.
Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, advances 2.7 kilometers on first day
Reports of Ukraine’s new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region emerged on Sunday.
In a short Telegram post Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, an agency of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said on Telegram Sunday that Ukrainian troops had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces from several directions across the Kursk region.
In a report covering Sunday the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Ukrainian forces resumed offensive operations in at least three areas within the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast and made tactical advances on January 5.
An OSINT analyst who goes by the nickname “Def Mon” on X said: “Ukrainian forces likely went about 2.7km past the Russian zero line,” referring to the Ukrainian advance into Russia’s Kursk region on the first day of the renewed offensive.
He also cited geolocated footage released by Russian media. Some of the video clips they posted appeared to claim that Russian forces “repelled Ukrainian troops’ attacks in the Kursk region.”
Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted multiple roughly company-sized mechanized assaults in the Berdin-Novosotnitsky direction (northeast of Sudzha) in three waves of attack using roughly a battalion’s worth of armored vehicles, ISW said.
Ukraine shoots down two Kh-59 missiles, 80 drones that Russia launches overnight
Russia launched at Ukraine a total of 128 Shahed attack drones and various types of decoy drones overnight on Monday. It also sent into Ukraine two Kh-59 air-launched missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The drones were launched from the area of Russia’s Bryansk, Millerovo, Oryol, Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk. The missiles came from the south, it added.
The intercepts took place over the regions of Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr, Ukraine’s Air Force said. No missiles or drones hit target.
Forty-nine decoy drones disappeared off radar after likely being disabled by electronic warfare systems.
Falling drone debris caused damage to industrial sites and private houses in the regions of Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava, and Sumy, with no reports of casualties.
Zelenskyi says he would need to sit down with Trump before talking to Putin
In an interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said he needed to sit down with Trump to determine a course of action to halt Russia.
“So first of all, I think January 25th or some other day […], we sit down, first of all, with Trump. We agree with him on how we can stop the war, stop Putin,” Zelenskyi said.
“Trump and I will come to an agreement. And then if, and I am sure that he can offer strong security guarantees together with Europe, and then we can talk to the Russians,” he added.
Zelenskyi said Europe’s governments also needed to have a voice in that process before Kyiv could sit down for talks with the Russian side, he said. “It’s the second thing. It won’t be long because Europe will be looking at us and we’ll be looking at Trump,” Zelenskyi said.
“I now see that when I talk about something with Donald Trump, whether we meet in person or we just have a call, all the European leaders always ask, ‘How was it?’”
“Not just three of us sitting down at once,” he said.
If the ceasefire happens without security guarantees, Trump will find himself in a difficult position, he added.
“Don’t wait for Putin to want to stop the war. Pressure him so that he is forced to stop the war, that’s important,” Zelenskyi said.
Trump earlier said he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day and boasted good relations with Putin.