President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had trapped the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region, where they have clung on for more than seven months in one of the key battles of the war.

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,