Russian commanders anticipated that Ukraine was planning an incursion into Kursk Oblast months before it occurred, the Guardian reported on Sept. 20, citing a collection of documents that Ukrainian soldiers said they had seized from abandoned Russian positions.

Moscow’s troops have retaken a few villages in a border area that Kyiv’s forces invaded last month and are also advancing steadily in eastern Ukraine.

Russia said on Friday that its army would regain control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner", declining to say how soon this could be achieved.