Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces repelled a Ukrainian assault on two villages in the partially occupied Kursk region in southwestern Russia. The battlefield report follows claims by pro-war military bloggers that Ukrainian troops launched an early morning offensive on the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye,

Russian forces are trying to bypass the city from the north and south, but so far without success, a military spokesperson said.

Russian spies have been blamed for a series of bombings at Ukrainian army recruitment offices as tensions run high over the war-weary nation’s divisive mobilisation drive.