KYIV (Reuters) -Around 10,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in Russia's Kursk region, about 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of which is controlled by Ukraine, Ukraine's top military commander said.

Ukraine's top military commander says its forces are still defending a small area of territory inside Russia that it captured almost a year ago. In August 2024 Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region,

President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that approximately 695,000 Russian troops are currently deployed on Ukrainian territory, with an additional 52,000 stationed across the border in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.