Ukrainian officials have not confirmed a retreat from the town in Russia’s Kursk region, parts of which were captured by Kyiv’s forces last summer.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had retaken control of Sudzha, the biggest town in its Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces for the past six months. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky also acknowledged the previous evening that Ukrainian troops had pulled back from parts of the Kursk region and that Russian forces had entered Sudzha,