Ukraine has captured more Russian land in a week than the Kremlin’s forces have managed in more than eight months of cross-border warfare.
On Monday, Kyiv’s top general claimed that his forces were in control of 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of Kursk, a border region in southern Russia.
The Telegraph has not been able to verify the figure. Independent analysts have suggested lower totals for the size of Ukraine’s advance.
But Russian officials have admitted that Kyiv controls 28 settlements after opening an area more than seven miles over the border and almost 25 miles wide.
The operation has drawn Moscow’s attention away from eastern Ukraine, where Russia has been slowly advancing for months.
Before Kyiv’s cross-border attack, the Russian army had reached within a short distance of Pokrovsk, a key garrison city in the Donetsk region, and was close to capturing the towns Chasiv Yar, Toretsk and Niu-York.