Russia's Ministry of Defense "A glide bomb airstrike on Ukrainian Kursk base"

The Russian Defense Ministry said on the 13th local time that it hit the occupied area of Ukrainian forces in Kursk, northwestern Russia, with a glide bomb.

Russia's Ministry of Defense announced, "We attacked Ukrainian military bases and places where troops gathered with gliding bombs," adding, "We dropped them with Su-34 fighter jets."

The ministry did not disclose details and could not confirm whether the attack had actually taken place, Reuters said.

Gliding bombs are weapons made by attaching wings to old Soviet bombs and fly on a more horizontal trajectory than conventional bombs.

Although it is unlikely to be exposed to radar due to its short flight time, it is powerful enough to create a large hole with a radius of 15m when it falls to the ground.

Ukraine crossed the border in a surprise move on August 6 and seized parts of the Russian mainland Kursk province.

Russia, which lost its territory to foreign forces for the first time since World War II, has been trying to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk but has failed to completely repair them more than three months later.

"Russia has tried to push us, but we are defending the designated front," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on the night of the 12th.

Ukraine sees Kursk as a valuable card to use in future peace negotiations with Russia and says it will defend it until the end, but Russia's intensifying offensive on the eastern front is paying the price elsewhere on the battlefield.