Like our earlier reports on the combat situation in Ukraine, this article takes stock of the recent developments on the battlefield based on open-source information. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start,

At least 56 civilians have been killed and 266 wounded during Ukraine’s seven-week-old incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

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.

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.

A Russian counter-offensive to recover parts of Kursk lost to Ukrainian forces following a surprise, cross-border attack is underway but is yet to gain momentum.

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.

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.