Russia ‘suffering 2,000 casualties a day’ as Kursk counter-offensive falters
Russia is suffering nearly 2,000 casualties a day trying to recapture the Kursk region and seize ground along the main front line in eastern Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s military.
The figure is almost double Russia’s casualty rate over the summer, highlighting a push by the Kremlin to secure as much territory as possible before Donald Trump, the US president-elect, potentially tries to impose a peace deal when he takes office in January.
In Kursk, Ukrainian soldiers insisted they were repelling the 50,000 Russian troops that the Kremlin has tasked with retaking the partially occupied region.
Anastasiia Blyshchyk, a spokesman for Ukraine’s 47th separate mechanised brigade, said the situation was difficult but “under control” and that Russian forces were suffering “dark days”.
A video, purportedly filmed in the region on Monday, showed a column of Russian armoured vehicles, each carrying around 30 soldiers, driving one after another into a minefield and then blowing up.
Credit: X / @maria_drutska
DeepState, a leading Ukrainian military blogger, said that fighting had focused on the village of Novoivanovka, 10 miles west of Sudzha, the centre of the Ukrainian salient.
It reported that Ukrainian forces had destroyed 18 of 29 armoured vehicles sent to capture the village and killed up to 300 Russian soldiers, but still described “difficult days” for the men as they repelled waves of attacks.
“The enemy does not stop trying to achieve at least some tactical success in the Kursk region,” DeepState said.
The Ukrainian claim that the Kremlin’s forces were suffering 2,000 daily casualties has been supported by Adml Sir Tony Radakin, who told the BBC on Sunday that total Russian casualties since the start of the war were about to reach “700,000 people killed or wounded”.
He said the figure showed the “enormous pain and suffering that the Russian nation is having to bear because of [Vladimir] Putin’s ambition.”
However, despite Ukraine’s reportedly dogged defence, Russian military bloggers bragged that Moscow’s armies were pushing forward and that Ukraine’s Nato equipment was failing because of the conditions in Kursk.
“Towards Sudzha, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using captured construction equipment to move through muddy roads because their equipment is getting stuck,” claimed the Two Majors military Telegram channel.
It published a video of a Ukrainian soldier desperately trying to dig his bogged-down off-road vehicle out of the mud.
In the footage, a rocket is then seen flying into the vehicle and exploding. When the smoke clears, the Ukrainian soldier is shown lying motionless on the ground.
Analysts have said that the Kursk offensive has become a critical test for Putin, who allowed Ukrainian forces to build up their defences in the region before launching the counterattack.
Frustration with the Kremlin’s slow response to Ukraine’s invasion of the region in August has bubbled over, with displaced residents of Sudzha holding a rare unsanctioned protest in Kursk city over the weekend.
On the main front line in Donbas, reports said Russian forces were continuing to push their advance along the southern sector.
It is claimed that the Russian military there is banking on probing attacks to find weaknesses in Ukrainian defences, which can then be exploited by calling up reinforcements to launch swarm infantry attacks.
Towards Pokrovsk, a town considered a strategic lynchpin for Ukraine’s forces, maps showed Russian forces fanning out into a “Popasna Rose” formation after breaching Ukrainian defences.
The term is used to describe a scenario in which an attacker presses their advantage in all directions after a breakthrough, rather than just concentrating on a single point.
It is known to be a favourite tactic of General Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have announced the enforced evacuation of all civilians from 10 more villages in the Kharkiv region due to advancing Russian forces.
The villages lie on the eastern bank of the Oskil River, where Moscow’s soldiers have made steady gains over the past few months.
12:39 PM GMT
That’s all for today
Thank you for following our live coverage on the war in Ukraine. It has now ended for the day.
We’ll be back soon with more updates and analysis.
12:33 PM GMT
Rutte: Russia working with North Korea, China and Iran
Mr Rutte said the “immediate challenge” facing Nato is the ongoing support for Ukraine as he accused Russia of working with North Korea, China, and Iran.
He said the challenge was to ensure Ukraine can be victorious in the fight against Russia, rather than “keeping them in the fight”.
Nato allies must provide Ukraine “with the support it needs to change the trajectory of the conflict,” he added.
12:24 PM GMT
Nato chief and French president speaking in Paris
Mark Rutte, the new chief of Nato, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, are speaking in Paris now.
We’ll bring you updates as they come in.
11:54 AM GMT
Moldova protests to Russian envoy over ‘election meddling’
Moldova handed Russia’s ambassador to Chisinau a protest note on Tuesday over alleged interference by Moscow in its recent elections.
Russia sought to delegitimise its presidential election and referendum on joining the European Union, the Moldovan foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Moscow has denied the allegations.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented today to the Ambassador ... a note of protest in connection with the illegal and deliberate interference of the Russian Federation in the electoral process of the Republic of Moldova,” Moldova’s foreign ministry said.
Russian ambassador Oleg Ozerov responded: “The conversation made it possible to clarify issues related to our acute and complex bilateral relations.”
11:35 AM GMT
Ukraine: Situation in Kursk difficult but under control
Anastasiia Blyshchyk, a spokesman for the 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade of Ukraine, said the situation on the frontline in Kursk was difficult but “under control”.
Ms Blyshchyk said Monday was a “dark day for Russian occupation forces” as Ukrainian forces had destroyed 10 of their armoured vehicles.
A battalion deployed to launch waves of attacks in Kursk was “effectively neutralises,” Ms Blyshchyk added.
11:13 AM GMT
Watch: Russian tanks ‘destroyed in Kursk’
Footage circulating on social media reports to show Russian tanks being destroyed in Kursk.
It comes after Russia launched a counter-offensive in its southern region, which was invaded by Ukraine in August.
Credit: X / @maria_drutska
10:57 AM GMT
Russian warship conducts drills in English Channel
A Russian Navy warship equipped with hypersonic missiles has conducted drills in the English Channel, Russian state news agencies reported on Tuesday.
The frigate, which is equipped with Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic anti-ship missiles, reportedly conducted counter-terrorism drills – repelling air and sea drone attacks from a mock enemy.
RFS Admiral Golovko was escorted by the Royal Navy’s HMS Iron Duke after it conducted exercises in the Barents, Norwegian and North seas, according to TASS news agency.
The Russian ministry of defence said the frigate had crossed the narrowest part of the channel, Pas-de-Calais, on Sunday after leaving its base in Severomorsk, Russia on Nov 2.
Read the full story here.
10:41 AM GMT
Medvedev: Europe trying to escalate war after Trump win
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, accused European leaders of trying to escalate the war in Ukraine after Donald Trump’s election victory.
Mr Medvedev wrote on Telegram that their goal was to “drive conflict with Russia into an irreversible phase”.
“The risk of the conflict escalating into the most dangerous stage is greatly increased by cruise missile strikes,” he added.
European leaders, including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, have called on the continent to be more self-sufficient and back Ukraine for as long as necessary.
10:24 AM GMT
In pictures: Ukrainian air force troops undergo training
10:09 AM GMT
Trump ‘interested’ in two points of Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’
Donald Trump has expressed interest in two aspects of Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘Victory Plan’.
One involved replacing some of the American troops stationed in Europe with Ukrainian troops after the war.
The other, initially suggested by Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, involved sharing Ukraine’s critical natural resources with Western partners, the Financial Times reported.
09:46 AM GMT
Ukraine shoots down 46 drones overnight
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 46 out of 110 Russian drones fired overnight.
The air force said 60 Russian drones were lost in Ukrainian air space and two more left toward Belarus.
Russian forces also used three missiles during the overnight attack, the air force added.
09:20 AM GMT
‘Truss was preparing for Putin to fire nuclear weapons’
Crisis meetings were held in Britain because of concerns Vladimir Putin was close to deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine in October 2022, an updated biography of Liz Truss claims.
The former prime minister was concerned wind would carry the fallout to British skies, according to the book Out of the Blue.
It says she spent her final days in office studying weather maps and preparing for radiation to hit Britain.
“Exquisite” US intelligence is reported to have concluded there was a 50 per cent chance Russia would deploy a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine or a larger one over the Black Sea.
Read the full story here.
08:58 AM GMT
EU must back Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’
The European Union must back Ukraine “for as long as it takes” in its fight to repel Russia’s invasion, the bloc’s designated foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday.
“The situation on the battlefield is difficult. And that’s why we must keep working every day. Today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes and with as much military, financial and humanitarian help as needed,” the former Estonian leader told lawmakers.
It comes amid fears that the incoming Donald Trump administration could drastically reduce financial and military aid to Kyiv and essentially force Ukraine into conceding territory to Russia.
08:37 AM GMT
Russian strike on Zelensky’s home town kills four
A Russian strike on Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town killed a mother and her three children, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The strike on Kryvyi Rig a day earlier ripped into the upper storeys of a Soviet-era apartment block in the industrial town, burying victims beneath debris.
“The youngest victim of the Russian strike was just two months old. The missile attack killed four people: a mother with three children,” Igor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister, said.
08:22 AM GMT
Where does Trump’s new secretary of state stand on Ukraine?
Donald Trump has reportedly decided on Marco Rubio to become Washington’s next secretary of state.
Mr Rubio was one of 15 Republican Senators who voted against the $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which eventually passed in 2024 April.
After Mr Trump’s victory last week, Mr Rubio said the war between Ukraine and Russia had reached a “stalemate” and “needed to be brought to a conclusion”.
“That doesn’t mean we celebrate what Vladimir Putin did or are excited about it, but I think there has to be some common sense here,” he said.
“We are funding a stalemate that’s costing lives... and Ukraine is going to take 100 years to rebuild with everything they’re facing.”
08:10 AM GMT
Putin rushes to recapture Kursk before Trump takes office
Vladimir Putin has deployed 50,000 Russian and North Korean troops in an attempt to recapture Kursk from Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office as US president in January.
Ukraine’s top military commander said “tens of thousands of enemy soldiers” had arrived to expel Kyiv’s forces from the Russian enclave, fuelling Western fears of a significant escalation of the war.
Nato allies believe Putin is hoping to recapture territory lost to Ukraine before Mr Trump’s inauguration on Jan 20.
A British defence intelligence assessment seen by The Telegraph shows Russia is likely to ramp up kamikaze drone attacks on Ukrainian positions in the coming days, using new launch sites close to the border.
Read the full story here.
08:07 AM GMT
North Korea ratifies defence treaty with Russia
North Korea has ratified a mutual defence treaty with Russia, according to state media reports on Tuesday.
The agreement commits both nations to aid one another in the event of an armed attack.
It has been seen as Vladimir Putin’s way of justifying deploying thousands of North Korean troops in the Kursk region.
07:57 AM GMT
Welcome to our live coverage
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We’ll be bringing you the latest updates from throughout the day.
