Zelensky Hails Kursk 'Success' As Russia Artillery Strikes on Pokrovsk Dip

Ukraine's cross-border push into Russia's Kursk region is a "success," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as Moscow insists its counteroffensive to rip back settlements from Kyiv's grip is yielding results.

Ukraine began its surprise incursion more than five weeks ago, claiming at the start of September to have captured 100 settlements and around 500 square miles of territory as Moscow sluggishly attempted to fend off the advance.

Russian and Ukrainian sources suggested earlier this week that the Kremlin had launched a counteroffensive in Kursk, which Zelensky later confirmed. "It is going according to our Ukrainian plan," the president added.

While Moscow has so far struggled to peel back Ukraine's advances in Kursk, it has recently claimed a run of villages in eastern Ukraine close to Pokrovsk, a strategic city in Donetsk linked up to several other defensive Ukrainian sites, such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

On Saturday, Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had seized another Donetsk village. Newsweek could not independently verify this, and a prominent Russian military blogger said Moscow forces were "increasing pressure" on the village, but stopped short of saying it had been captured.

Capturing Pokrovsk, vital for Ukrainian logistics, would be a significant win for Russia, and place much of the Donetsk region under Moscow's control. Ukraine, despite Russia's offensive into the northeastern Kharkiv region and its operations into Kursk, has for months reported the most bitter fighting along the frontlines close to Pokrovsk.

Before the start of the Kursk offensive, Russia was firing 12 times more artillery rounds around Pokrovsk than defending Ukrainian troops, Zelensky said during an appearance at the Yalta European Strategy conference, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, in Kyiv on Friday.

Russia is now firing around 2.5 times the amount of artillery shells at Ukraine, which while still more than double, is a significant reduction from the "much more challenging" figure prior to the Kursk operation, the Ukrainian president said during the event, attended by a number of high-profile Ukrainian and Western figures.

"I consider this a success," Zelensky said.

The U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which tracks daily changes to the frontlines, said on Friday that it could not independently verify Zelensky's figures on artillery firing, but evaluated that Russia's rate of advance around Pokrovsk has "notably slowed" since the start of the month.

A shortage of ammunition for artillery systems, also referred to as "shell hunger," has long stalked Ukraine, exacerbated by delays in deliveries of Western aid. The most in-demand shell, the 155mm, quickly became scarce, with few NATO stockpiles able to keep replenishing Ukraine's stocks.

Kyiv has said its shock move into Kursk was designed to cut off Russian logistics propping up its forces, carving out a buffer zone along the border. The operation was a boon for Ukrainian morale after months of steady Russian gains towards Pokrovsk.

Major General Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces deployed in Kursk, told Russian state news agency Tass on Wednesday that the situation was "good" in Kursk, adding that Russian troops had "gone on the offensive" along the "right flank."

A total of 10 settlements have been recaptured by Russia since Tuesday, Alaudinov said at the time. Separately, Alaudinov reshared a Russian military blogger statement on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, which described a "breakthrough" in Kursk that drove Ukrainian forces from "nearly a dozen villages."

Similar reports were publicized by several of Russia's influential military bloggers.

Popular Ukrainian war-tracking blog Deep State said on Tuesday that the situation had "worsened" in Kursk, with Russian forces beginning "active assault operations."

The Pentagon on Thursday described Russia's counteroffensive gains as "marginal," but said the U.S. was monitoring the situation.

The ISW said that a Russian counteroffensive to roll back Ukrainian positions in Kursk would "very likely require" even more personnel and equipment than Moscow has already allocated to the area.

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