Russia is close to regaining full control of its western Kursk region after pushing Ukrainian forces from one of their last footholds there, the regional governor and state media said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly acknowledged for the first time that his troops are active in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. "We continue to carry out active operations in the border areas on enemy territory, and that is absolutely just - war must return to where it came from," he said on Monday.