Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

Ukraine launches a new offensive in Russia's Kursk region, raising questions about its strategic goals and potential impact on the war's trajectory and upcoming peace talks.

They also say they have thwarted Ukraine's latest offensive in the Kursk region. Submit your questions on the war in the form below for our experts to answer.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank that maps the frontline, said Ukraine had made advances into the southern outskirts of Berdin. It is to the northeast of the city of Sudzha, the most significant area held by Ukraine since the start of the first assault five months ago.

Ukraine launched a fresh operation in Russia's southern Kursk region, Moscow said on Sunday, after Ukrainian officials and military bloggers reported new attacks from Kyiv in a region where Moscow is eager to reassert its grip.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Russia had suffered heavy losses in five months of fighting Ukrainian forces in southern Russia's Kursk region, with nearly 15,000 killed.

Ukraine's air force says one of its F-16 fighter ... Moscow says its troops have inflicted a series of defeats on Ukrainian units in Kursk. Submit your questions for our correspondents in the ...

Ukraine's fresh offensive in Kursk comes nearly six months after Kyiv first sent troops into the western Russian region.

Russia sent one of its top generals, General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, to organize Russia’s defense in Kursk Oblast against a renewed Ukrainian attack, The Telegraph reported on Jan. 5.

Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

A total of 144 combat clashes have occurred on the battlefield since the start of 9 January, with most of the fighting taking place on the Pokrovsk, Kursk and Kurakhove fronts. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook,