An Italian military columnist has claimed that Russia has the upper hand while battles rage on in Ukraine's Donetsk and Russia's Kursk border region. Gianluca De Feo said that Russian troops were steadily advancing in Donbass and were successfully repelling Ukrainian incursion in Kursk.

Russia has launched a counter-attack in the Kursk border region where Ukrainian forces last month launched a surprise cross-border incursion.

Russia appears to have launched a counteroffensive in Kursk, claiming to have recaptured 10 settlements. War analysts said the situation is "fluid."

As Ukrainian morale soars and Russian resistance fades, the front lines reveal a war already decided, even as leaders cling to outdated strategies.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken says the sanctions are in response to Russia’s attempt to ‘subvert and polarize free and open societies’