Russia has claimed that its forces captured a battered but strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a day after Kyiv launched a counterattack in the Russian region of Kursk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that some 38,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded fighting in Russia's western Kursk region since August, with Kyiv now launching a fresh offensive in the border region.

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.