The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk continues . Over 120 thousand civilians have had to flee the fighting zones, while the head of the armed forces of Kiev Oleksandr Syrsky, during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, claimed: " We continue to conduct offensive operations, currently we control about a thousand square kilometers of the territory of the Russian Federation ." About thirty localities are said to have fallen into Ukrainian hands.

Kursk Region Governor Alexei Smirnov has accused Kiev of using chemical weapons. Speaking via video conference with Vladimir Putin, he said that “police officers and the head of a rural community were intoxicated” after being hit in Belovo district by Ukrainian artillery fire using “chemical weapons.”

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that Ukraine would receive "a worthy response" for its invasion of Russian territory and Moscow would achieve "all the goals" it has set for itself . Russian forces are advancing along the entire line of contact with Ukrainian forces, he added, and the main task now for the Defense Ministry is to push Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory.

Kiev's attempts to destabilize Russia's border territories, he continued, could soon extend to the Bryansk region. The relative calm in the Bryansk region does not guarantee that this situation will last, and therefore "we must prepare for different scenarios," Putin explained.

He then explained what he saw as the reasons for the attack, carried out "with the help of the West". Kiev, according to Putin, wants "to improve its position for future negotiations, but it is out of the question that Russia can have peace negotiations with Ukraine in the current situation. What can we talk about with people who indiscriminately attack civilians and try to threaten nuclear power plants?" .

Russian forces also stepped up the pace of their offensive in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region , the Defense Ministry said, announcing that Moscow's troops captured the village of Lisichnoye today. Two more settlements were captured last week, the ministry added: Timofeyevka and Veseloye.