Russia lost a record number of soldiers in one day on Monday, Ukrainian intelligence said after its forces appeared to repel an initial phase of Moscow’s counteroffensive in the Kursk region.

Some 1,950 Russian troops were killed or injured on Monday, the Ukrainian army said, after footage showed Russian armoured vehicles being destroyed as they launched their offensive. 

Armoured personnel carriers loaded with infantry were destroyed in “less than an hour of combat” after driving into a concealed minefield during a rare daylight charge, the Kyiv Post reported. 

Footage showed columns of armoured vehicles, each carrying around 30 men, driving one after another onto mines before blowing up. 

It comes after Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had sent 50,000 troops to the Kursk region, up from 11,000 when Kyiv launched its daring counter-offensive in August. North Korean troops are also being deployed in Kursk as part of Moscow’s counter-offensive.

It comes after The Telegraph reported that Putin is aiming to recapture Kursk from Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office as US president in January.