Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed his country has recaptured Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Kyiv insists its troops are fiercely battling to preserve its foothold in the territory.

Acting commander of Russia’s 810th Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "scattered groups and individual soldiers" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighting in the Kursk region "will soon be destroyed," Russian government-controlled RIA Novosti reported on April 27.

All Ukrainian troops have been forced from parts of Russia's Kursk region, which Moscow lost control of last year to a surprise Ukrainian incursion, Russia's top general said in a Kremlin meeting Saturday.