LONDON, August 12./TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces launched an attack on the borderline Kursk Region fearing new losses in the zone of the Russian special military operation, to strengthen positions at the possible peace talks, Ukrainian serviceman identified as Denys told the Financial Times.

"We can fight here and take their territory. And then negotiations can start, and we will have some land of theirs to trade for our land," he was quoted as saying.

According to him, the loss of Ukrainian army’s control over the settlement of Novgorodskoye (Ukrainian name New York), Dzerzhinsk (Ukrainian name Toretsk) and Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic was just a matter of time. New York "will be captured, 100 per cent," the British paper quoted him as saying.

A massive cross-border attack on the Kursk Region began on August 6. A missile warning has been repeatedly issued in the borderline region. Twelve civilians have died, and 121 people have been wounded, including ten children.Sixty-nine people injured as a result of shelling of the Kursk Region are in hospitals, 17 of them are in serious condition. More than 8,000 people have been evacuated from the border areas over the past 24 hours amid attacks by Ukrainian troops, and more than 6,000 people have been sheltered in temporary accommodation centers.

According to Defense Ministry updates, Kiev has lost up to 1,610 military personnel, 32 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since it launched the cross-border attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Ukraine's armed provocation on the Russian border was intended to slow down the Russian Armed Forces' offensive, but Kiev's hopes are futile. He noted that the pace of liberation of the territories in Donbass and Novorossiya has grown 1.5 times.