Russia has claimed that its forces captured a battered but strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a day after Kyiv launched a counterattack in the Russian region of Kursk.

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.

Russian forces continue to make costly but consistent gains in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. They are steadily grinding down a pocket of resistance around the town of Kurakhove and are also fighting to envelop the larger nearby city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers and officials said.

Ukraine launched a new offensive in Russia's Kursk region Sunday, Moscow and Kyiv said. Ukrainian forces had captured about 500 square miles of the western Russian province in a surprise incursion in August, but Russian and North Korean troops are believed to have retaken 40-50% of that area.

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.

Russia said Sunday that Ukraine had launched a "counterattack" in the western border region of Kursk, where Kyiv's forces began a shock ground offensive last August.

Ukraine hits Russia's infantry brigade command post in Kursk Oblast, military claims In historic record, Ukrainian F-16 pilot downs 6 cruise missiles in single mission, Air Force claims Trump blames Biden for provoking Russia's war by supporting Ukraine's NATO aspirations Ukraine says it holds Kurakhove's western outskirts despite Russia's claim of capture Ukrainian soldiers struck on Jan.

Ukraine’s ambitious plan to reclaim Kurakhove from Russian control has been decisively thwarted. Despite determined efforts, the Ukrainian army's attempts to retake the region were crushed by Russia’s overwhelming force.