[Korrespondent] 17:44 Zelensky said that the Russians have launched "rapid offensive actions" in the Kursk region, but have not yet achieved any serious results. According to the president, the Russian army plans to use about 60-70 thousand people, currently about 40 thousand are known to be there. "They wanted quick breakthroughs... They are doing this, we have not yet seen any serious successes. Our military is heroically holding on and doing everything necessary for our other steps, military and political ones," the head of state noted.
Zelensky also claims that the operation in the Kursk region has resulted in a decrease in the number of shellings in Donbass: "The situation in the Pokrovsk direction has been gradually leveling out over the past week. These are parallel things to the situation in Ukraine, or part of our operation in the Kursk region. These are related things. For example, we can see that the use of shells in Donbass, in the same Pokrovsk before the start of the Kursk operation was 1 to 12... today it is 1 to 2.5. This has not yet leveled out, we still need more weapons than the Russians."
09:19 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the operation in the Kursk region is continuing, Ukrainian troops are inflicting "significant losses in manpower and equipment on the Russian army and are actively undermining the enemy's offensive potential in the rear."
08:55 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russia has begun redeploying more experienced units to the Kursk region. In particular, we are talking about additional units of the 106th Airborne Division. Units of the 137th Airborne Regiment, which includes the 106th Division, were operating in the Severny direction in Ukraine as of late August. According to analysts, Russia may begin redeploying more experienced forces to support its current counterattacks and upcoming counteroffensive operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia.
At the same time, ISW believes that the current Russian counterattack in the Kursk region has only minor successes, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces are advancing. Thus, Russian troops continued to counterattack in the Kursk region on September 12, but achieved only minor successes. The reason, most likely, is the Ukrainian offensive operations and defensive counterattacks in this area, experts believe.
02:22 The US is aware of Russian attempts to conduct counteroffensive actions in the Kursk region, but does not consider them large-scale, said Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder. "We see that at the current stage, Russian units are beginning, trying to conduct certain counteroffensive actions in the Kursk region," he said, adding that these actions are "insignificant." Ryder emphasized that the Pentagon is monitoring the development of events.
September 12
11:13 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports, citing geolocation footage, that the Russian army has pushed the Ukrainian Armed Forces back east of Zhuravli, northeast of Korenevo, and advanced north and northeast of Snagost in a company-sized mechanized offensive. However, it is not yet clear whether the Russian Federation has enough troops to push the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the Kursk Region, analysts note.