Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet, the Russian Defense Ministry said on January 5.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev lost a number of Western-made armored vehicles, including a Bradley fighting vehicle.
“Seventeen counterattacks by the Ukrainian armed forces were repelled. The enemy lost more than 410 soldiers, two German-made Leopard tanks, one infantry fighting vehicle and three armored personnel carriers, including an American-made M113,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Russia also captured from Kiev “a British-made 105 mm L-119 howitzer.”
All of these Ukrainian losses occurred in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in two counterattacks in Donetsk alone that were repelled by Russian forces, Ukraine lost 230 soldiers.
A large number of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets have been delivered to Ukraine by EU countries since February 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.
The US and its allies have delivered more than $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition to Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.
Also related to the developments in the war in Ukraine, Kiev appears to have launched a new attack in the border area of Russia's Kursk province on January 5. Ukraine has controlled many territories in Kursk in the past few months.
According to Bloomberg, military bloggers and local media posted images of armored vehicles moving near Sudzha toward Bolshoye Soldatskoye in Kursk Oblast. Some bloggers, including the Rybar Telegram channel, which has 1.3 million subscribers, confirmed that the new Ukrainian operation in Kursk was a diversion.
In a war update on January 5, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had repelled the Ukrainian attack, describing it as an “assault group” led by two tanks and 12 armored fighting vehicles.
Ukrainian military officials have not confirmed the details of the new operation in Russia’s Kursk region, but Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said on his Telegram channel on January 5 that Russia “got what it deserved.”
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, said Russians in Kursk “are extremely worried because they are being attacked from many directions.”
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Defense Minister General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov visited Kursk Oblast and met with Governor Alexander Khinshtein, according to a post on the Telegram channel of Kursk Oblast officials.
Ukraine seized territory in Kursk in a surprise offensive that began in mid-August. A US official said in late December that Ukraine had lost about half of the territory it had gained in Kursk Oblast and was in danger of losing the rest in the coming months.
Previously, Kiev had informed that the offensive in Kursk province had two main goals - to distract and divert Russian forces from the eastern regions of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials also hope to use the territory gained in Kursk province as a bargaining chip in talks with Russia.
