Ukraine, which seized part of the Kursk region in early August and has held on to it for five months, launched a new offensive there on Sunday but has not provided details of the operation or stated what the objectives are.

Russia has claimed that its forces captured a battered but strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a day after Kyiv launched a counterattack in the Russian region of Kursk.

Russia said on Monday it had made an important advance in eastern Ukraine but Russian war bloggers said Moscow's forces were continuing to fend off a major Ukrainian attack inside western Russia. The Russian defence ministry said its forces had captured the town of Kurakhove which lies 32 km (20 miles) south of Pokrovsk,