Since a surprise Ukrainian offensive last August displaced thousands of people in Russia’s Kursk region and left an unknown number under military occupation, refugees and missing persons’ relatives have lobbied the Russian state to do more to identify those unaccounted for.

With its new attack in Kursk Oblast, Ukraine has demonstrated Russia's inability to recapture the region, said Col. Ants Kiviselg, head of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) Intelligence Center. The EDF colonel also noted however,

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

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.

In a short post on Telegram, Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said: "Kursk, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves."

Ukraine launched a new offensive in Russia's Kursk region Sunday, Moscow and Kyiv said. Ukrainian forces had captured about 500 square miles of the western Russian province in a surprise incursion in August, but Russian and North Korean troops are believed to have retaken 40-50% of that area.

Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration not to give up on Kyiv’s fight, with Austin warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”

Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre has reported that Ukraine's recent offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast has revealed Moscow's inability to reclaim these territories. Source: Estonian public broadcaster ERR,