Russian forces continue to make costly but consistent gains in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. They are steadily grinding down a pocket of resistance around the town of Kurakhove and are also fighting to envelop the larger nearby city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers and officials said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank that maps the frontline, said Ukraine had made advances into the southern outskirts of Berdin. It is to the northeast of the city of Sudzha, the most significant area held by Ukraine since the start of the first assault five months ago.

Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his troops were ‘actively destroying Russian military potential’ in the Kursk region of Russia

In a major setback for Ukraine, Russian forces have successfully repelled a large-scale counterattack in the Kursk Region, inflicting heavy losses on Kiev’s troops. Ukraine launched the assault with tanks,