Transcript of Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk region | BBC News

In Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 200 people since Thursday. At least 10 Palestinians are reported to have been killed overnight. Israel says it's targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure. The attacks come after the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israel planned to resume indirect talks with Hamas to end the war. Our correspondent, Joner Fischer, gave us this update from Jerusalem.

Yeah, those strikes continued overnight As you mentioned, in the central part of Gaza, in particular, we are hearing reports that at least 10 people were killed in several strikes around the central part of Gaza, also reports of strikes elsewhere. It has clearly been a very bloody few days in both Central and Northern Gaza. The Hamas run Ministry of Health put out one of their regular updates this morning, saying that 88 people had been killed in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to more than 200 since Thursday. We've heard also from the IDF in the last 24 hours. It's clear that they have been striking a lot of targets as well. They said they'd hit about 100 sites over the weekend, and that some of those sites that they've been targeting had been sites that had been used to launch projectiles, rockets out of Gaza towards Israel, so that some of the places which they've been going for is trying to hit those areas where those rockets are being launched out of.

Jona Fischer. Ukraine has launched a new offensive in Kursk, a region of Russia it partially occupied in a lightning incursion five months ago. Its forces fanned out in three directions from their main base at Suja. President Zelensky's Chief of Staff said Russia was getting what it deserved. In recent weeks, Moscow has been trying to squeeze the Ukrainians out of Kursk with the support of North Korean troops. Our correspondent in Kyiv, Will Vernon, has the latest.

Well, this operation is still in its early days, early hours, really. The Russian Defense Ministry, in a statement earlier, said that Ukraine launched this offensive in the Kursk region at around 8:00 this morning, local time, and that fighting was ongoing. You mentioned the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andrew Yermak. He didn't confirm the operation in a post on social media, but he did hint at it, saying there was good news from Kershka region and that the Russians were getting what they deserved. I've also been reading some of the pro-Kremlin military bloggers. They've also been saying that Ukraine has launched a major operation in the Kyrsk region. But of course, there's a lot we don't know. We don't know what scale this is on and whether it will lead to any change whatsoever in Ukraine's pretty tenuous position on the battlefield.

How likely is it to change what's happening on the front line in Kursk, though?

Well, it's difficult to say at this stage. Ukraine is on the defensive in Kursk region. They launched that shock incursion into the Kershk region back in August, managed to seize quite a large chunk of territory. At the time, it wasn't entirely clear what the intention was. There was speculation that perhaps they were trying to draw Russian forces away from other parts of the battlefield in the east of the country for example. President Zelensky later said that the operation was designed to be used as a bargaining chip in any future peace talks with Russia. But the Ukrainians made pretty good progress. But then Russian forces counterattacked. In recent weeks, Ukraine has been losing ground in the Kyrsk region. Russian forces, of course, have been bolstered by the presence of several thousand troops from North Korea. So Ukraine has been on the backfoot in the Kyrsk region. Russia hasn't managed to knock to take them out of the area altogether. Ukraine has hung on there, has hung on, for example, onto the key town of Suja. We'll have to see whether this new operation that appears to have been launched today will make any difference. We'll be able to be sustained.

Because Ukrainian forces badly need a victory. Moral here is low. Ukraine is losing ground in the east of the country. Russia has made significant gains there. Ukrainians really need to show to their own people here, to Western countries, and most importantly of all, to the incoming Donald Trump administration, that they can still mount offensive operations and they can still win. They can still achieve victories, even ones that are relatively small.

Will Vernon in Kyiv.