Ukraine updates: Russia starts counteroffensive in Kursk
Published September 12, 2024last updated September 12, 2024
What you need to know
Russia has begun attacking Ukrainian troops in its northern border region of Kursk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that a counteroffensive was underway. Moscow seeks to regain control over an area that was subject to a surprise incursion by Ukrainian troops last month.
Meanwhile, Russian drones have inflicted significant damage to the energy infrastructure of the Ukrainian town of Konotop in the northeastern Sumy region. An overnight attack injured at least 14 people and cut off electricity to the settlement, local officials said.
Here's the latest news from Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday, September 12.
Zelenskyy says Russia launched counteroffensive in Kursk region
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that a Russian counteroffensive is underway against Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region. The move comes over a month after Kyiv launched an assault in Kursk.
"Russians have launched counteroffensive actions, which is going in line with our Ukrainian plan," Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russia said its army had recaptured 10 settlements in its Kursk border region. "Units of the 'North' group of troops liberated 10 settlements within two days," the defense ministry said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
Key eastern Ukrainian city loses water, gas supplies
The key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has lost access to drinking water, as well as natural gas for cooking and heating, officials say.
A water filtration station in Pokrovsk was damaged in recent fighting, and more than 300 hastily drilled water wells are the city's last source of drinking water, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.
A day earlier, Russians destroyed a natural gas distribution station near Pokrovsk, Filashkin said. About 18,000 people remain in the city, including 522 children, he said.
More than 20,000 people have left in the past six weeks as Russian forces close in on residential areas, Filashkin said. "Evacuation is the only choice for civilians," he added.
Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine's main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region, which lies on part of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
Zelenskyy calls Chinese-Brazilian peace proposal 'destructive'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Chinese-Brazilian peace proposal is "destructive" and serves only as a "political statement" in an interview with the Brazilian media outlet Metropoles.
According to Metropoles, Zelenskyy once again criticized the stance of the Brazilian government in the face of the war in Ukraine, saying that Brazil is "pro-Russian."
"The Chinese-Brazilian proposal is also destructive, it's just a political statement," Zelenskyy said . "How can you offer 'here is our initiative' without asking anything from us?"
In May, Brazil and China signed a joint statement calling for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The statement called for the participation of both countries in the talks.
Blinken to hold talks in Poland
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Poland. His trip follows talks in Ukraine on Wednesday.
He will first meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the capital, Warsaw. He will then meet with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The US State Department said the talks will focus on deepening defense and energy cooperation, as well as working together as NATO allies to support Ukraine's defense.
Poland is one of the main military backers of Ukraine, which is fighting off a full-scale Russian invasion. The EU and NATO member also plays an important role as a logistical hub for Western aid to Kiev.
Russian drones hit power grid in Sumy region town
Russian drones inflicted significant damage on the energy infrastructure of the northern Ukrainian town of Konotop in an overnight attack that injured at least 14 people and cut off electricity to the settlement.
There were 10 explosions during the attack and the power system is in critical condition, according to regional officials.
"At the moment, energy workers are doing everything they can to provide electricity to the hospital and the water supply system," Mayor Artem Semenikhin said in the early hours of Thursday. The hospital remained open, he added.
Semenikhin said authorities in Konotop had no idea when power would be restored, and that they were planning water supplies on an hourly basis.
Regional prosecutors and local officials said the attack also damaged seven apartment buildings, medical and educational facilities, a store, a bank and a section of the town's tramway.
Konotop is in the Sumy region, which has been particularly targeted by Russia in recent weeks. Ukraine used Sumy as a staging ground for a surprise incursion across the border into Russia's Kursk region last month in an attempt to seize the battlefield initiative as Russian forces advance in eastern Ukraine.
The strike on Konotop was part of a broader Russian attack using 64 drones, the Ukrainian air force said. It shot down 44 of them over nine different regions, it added.
dh/kb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)