The Russian Armed Forces foiled an attempted counterattack by the AFU in the border region of Kursk Oblast

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) attempted a counterattack towards the village of Bolshoye Soldatskoye in the border area of Kursk Region, but the Russian army repulsed it. This was reported by the Russian Defense Ministry on January 6.

"The enemy undertook a counterattack by assault groups in the direction of the village of Bolshoye Soldatskoye. By decisive actions of the units of the group of troops "North" with the support of aviation and artillery, the attempted breakthrough of the AFU was stopped," the ministry said in a statement.

The Ukrainian militants were defeated by fire, their main forces were liquidated on the approaches to the farm Berdin. It is specified that the AFU made a futile attempt to counterattack to try to stop the ongoing offensive of the Russian military in the Kursk region.

In repelling the counterattack, the Ukrainian army suffered losses of more than 150 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), four tanks, 16 armored combat vehicles (ACVs) and an engineer barrier vehicle. Ukrainian losses in the border region of Kursk overnight totaled up to 485 fighters.

For the entire time of fighting in the Kursk direction, the AFU lost up to 49,500 military personnel, 216 BMPs, 283 tanks, 1,500 TBMs, 341 artillery pieces, 1,418 vehicles, 89 electronic warfare (EW) stations and a large amount of other equipment, including that transferred to Kiev by its Western allies.

"The battalion was born in the Kursk battles."

Izvestia special report on the breakthrough in the direction of Malaya Lokna

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the crew of a Su-34 multirole supersonic fighter-bomber of the Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) struck at AFU manpower, armored vehicles and a stronghold in the Kursk border region. The strike was carried out with aviation bombs with a universal planning and correction module (UMPK). All targets were successfully destroyed.

The day before, on January 5, the ministry showed the combat work of the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile and cannon systems (SAMS) on duty at Russian positions in the border areas of Kursk Region. It was specified that each complex carries 12 anti-aircraft missiles and is ready to switch to combat mode in 10 seconds.

The AFU attacked Russian positions in the border areas of Kursk Region on August 6. The situation in the region was recognized as a federal emergency. The liquidation of the Ukrainian militants who invaded the Russian territory is underway.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.