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Just as Ukrainian forces are losing their foothold in the pocket of Russia’s Kursk region they captured last year, they have staged a so-far little-publicised incursion into the adjacent Belgorod region, according to Russian military bloggers.

Several Russian military correspondents reported today that Ukrainian troops were inside Belgorod and fighting battles with Russian forces there.

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed the reports, though Russia’s defence ministry said 10 days ago that its forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attempts to push across the border in Belgorod.

Ukraine’s military has not commented on any thrust into Belgorod region by Kyiv’s forces, though that could be for operational security reasons.

Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine’s National Defence and Security Council, suggested in a statement earlier this month that Ukrainian forces could act in the Belgorod region, “neutralising threats” from Russian forces that might mass near the border.

And Rybar, a Russian military blog with 1.3 million subscribers, said there had been heavy clashes in a settlement called Popovka and each side was hitting the other with drones. Another Telegram account, Two Majors, said Russian forces were conducting “defensive operations”.

“There are constant strikes on concentrations of Ukrainian Armed Forces, but the enemy still has serious offensive potential for this direction and has not abandoned plans for further breakthroughs, including in new areas of the front,” it said.

A third military blog, Arkhangel Spetsnaza, reported fighting in a village called Demidovka and said some Ukrainian soldiers were surrounded there.

The accounts have not been independently confirmed.

The Ukrainian operation may be an attempt to distract Russian forces as they try to drive out the last Ukrainian forces from next-door Kursk. One of the Russian blogs, Rybar, said Russia had moved reinforcements to Belgorod from Goptarovka in the Kursk region.

Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finnish-based Black Bird Group, said Ukrainian forces had penetrated the first Russian defences and advanced most likely to a depth of 3-4 km (1.9 to 2.5 miles).

But he said it was unlikely that they could stage a serious breakthrough and threaten any important Russians logistical routes or cities.

“The Ukrainians can, in theory, take some more villages from the border area, but that’s not what a breakthrough means – it’d be a small tactical success, but there’s very little to be achieved in the Demidovka direction at operational or strategic level,” he said.

“There’s no proper element of surprise, and the Russian presence in the area is strong enough to at least conduct mostly successful defensive operations.”