After clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in the past week.

Russia said on Thursday there was no doubt that its troops would soon complete the task of clearing out Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region where they have held a pocket of territory for more than seven months.

The General Staff added that this information is being spread by Russia for “political purposes and to pressure Ukraine and its partners.” They also noted that the situation on the front line had not significantly changed in the past 24 hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to surrender, as diplomatic back-and-forth continues over a potential US-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine.

President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin both claimed that Ukrainian forces were surrounded. Ukraine’s top military commander vowed to “hold the line.”

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has released a video showing drone footage of Sudzha, a key town in the Kursk border region that Russia claims to have retaken from Ukrainian troops.

Moscow said on Friday that its forces had recaptured another village in their drive to dislodge Ukrainian forces from their last remaining footholds inside Russia's Kursk region. The defence ministry said Russian troops had retaken Goncharovka,