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.

"The situation in Kurakhove is really quite difficult right now, because a significant part of the city has been destroyed," Khortytsia group of forces spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said on national television Jan.

Kyiv's army said on Tuesday there was still active fighting in Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine's east that Russia said it had seized the previous day. Moscow hailed the capture of the "important logistics hub,