A total of 162 combat clashes have occurred on the battlefield over the past day, with the Russians continuing to actively assault the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts, where a total of 63 Russian attacks took place.

According to documents obtained by the Ukrainian military and shared with The Guardian, Russia's military command foresaw Ukraine's August 6 incursion and failed to act on warnings from those in the region. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment on the reports.

Russia said on Friday that its army would regain control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner", declining to say how soon this could be achieved.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have noted that the Ukrainian military was able to take advantage of the situation to launch its operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast, despite the fact that Russia had known about and had been preparing for it for months.

Russia has taken two villages in the western Kursk region, a senior commander said, as Russian forces advance against thousands of Ukrainian forces who smashed through the Russian border last month.

According to analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Ukrainian military exploited the situation for an offensive in the Kursk region, despite Russia knowing and preparing for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operations for months.

The Russians launched five missile strikes on Ukrainian positions and settlements, using six missiles and conducted 73 airstrikes, using 108 guided bombs, on Friday, 20 September. They also dropped another 25 guided bombs on their own Kursk Oblast.