According to Russia, Ukraine has launched a new attack in the Kursk region in western Russia where Russian troops have been trying to drive out Ukrainian forces for five months. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday its forces would repel Ukrainian forces, but Russian military bloggers reported heavy fighting and some said the Russian side was under heavy pressure. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, there were 42 battles in the Kursk region on Sunday, 12 of which were still ongoing. The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, posted on Telegram that there was “good news” from Kursk, adding: “Russia is getting what it deserves.” The Russian ministry said Ukraine had around 06 :00 GMT near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a deminer and twelve armored fighting vehicles carrying paratroopers. It said two Ukrainian attacks had been repelled. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

The Ukrainian army did not comment on the operationTheir daily report simply said that fighting was ongoing in the Kursk region, without elaborating. Zelensky said on Saturday that the Russian army had “lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroopers” in two days of fighting near the Kursk village of Makhnovka. Ukraine launched a cross-border attack on the Kursk region last August and the Russian army has since recaptured only about 40% of the territory lost. Ukraine’s new offensive comes as both sides seek to strengthen their negotiating position ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20. Zelensky hinted that the land around Kursk could play a role in any peace deal. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Ukraine’s position in Kursk was “important” for future negotiations.

Zelensky said security guarantees for Kiev to end Russia’s war would only be effective if the US provided themand that he hoped to meet Trump soon after his inauguration. He said Ukrainians expected that Trump would force Moscow to end its war and that Russia would escalate in Europe if Washington withdrew from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance. In an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman published on Sunday, the Ukrainian president also renewed his call for NATO membership for Ukraine.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported loud explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on Sundaycoinciding with reports of a drone attack on the power plant’s training center, the head of the nuclear regulator said. No impacts have been confirmed yet, Rafael Mariano Grossi said, adding there were reportedly no injuries or impacts to equipment.

One person was killed and another injured in Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine on Sunday, local officials said. Downstream along the Dnipro River, at least six people were injured when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, the capital of the Kherson region. Moscow sent 103 drones to Ukraine on Sunday night, Ukrainian officials said. The Ukrainian Air Force said 61 drones were destroyed and 42 were lost, probably due to electronic interference. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 61 Ukrainian drones were shot down in western Russia. No injuries were reported, but Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyusar said residential buildings and cars were damaged by falling drone debris.

Dozens of marine mammals have been found dead since the oil spill involving a Russian oil tanker in the Black Sea last month, a dolphin rescue center said, as authorities scramble to contain the disaster. The oil spill began on December 15 when two old Russian tankers were caught in a storm off the Kerch Strait, which connects Crimea to southern Russia. One sank, the other ran aground and, according to authorities’ estimates, around 2,400 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled into the surrounding waters. Russia’s Delfa Center, which rescues and rehabilitates dolphins, said on Sunday it had recorded 61 dead cetaceans – a type of aquatic mammal that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises – since the incident.