Ukraine touts success in Kursk, Russia claims victories

Russian troops killed or wounded roughly 350 Ukrainian soldiers and stopped dozens of military vehicles in Kursk over Monday, Kremlin-run media outlet TASS reported Tuesday. Kyiv has lost more than 4,100 soldiers and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles after crossing into Russia earlier this month, TASS claimed. Kremlin forces are continuing operations to wipe out the Ukrainian presence in the southwestern Russian region, the outlet added. Meanwhile, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said that Ukrainian forces made marginal advances in Kursk on Monday.

What does Ukraine have to say about its push into Russia? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that his country’s military was achieving its objectives. Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk on Monday controlled nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory, an area that included 92 settlements, he said earlier. Ukrainian troops were now engaged in defensive operations in the area, Zelenskyy added.

What is happening on the battlefields in Ukraine? The Kremlin claimed to have crushed a large contingent of Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk region on Tuesday, TASS reported. Zelenskyy acknowledged the situation in the region was tough but said Ukrainian soldiers were doing everything they could to beat back Russian advances.

Dig deeper: Listen to Lindsay Mast’s conversation with Russia expert John Hardie about the Kursk incursion on The World and Everything in It podcast.