Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that his country has regained control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Ukraine’s army says fighting continues.

North Korea has for the first time confirmed that it sent troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine. In a report on state news agency KCNA, Pyongyang's military claimed its soldiers helped Russian forces "completely liberate" the Kursk border region, according to an order given by leader Kim Jong Un.

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.