The operation in Russia’s Kursk region was a measure to prevent the occupation of northern Ukraine by the Russian forces and is not an act of "claiming" Russian territory. — Ukrinform.

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.