Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that his country has regained control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Ukraine’s army says fighting continues.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ejection of Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region ends the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two but it also removes another barrier to a peace deal Moscow was reluctant to conclude with so many enemy troops on its soil.

Nearly nine months after losing chunks of the Kursk region to a surprise Ukrainian incursion, Russia has announced that its troops have fully reclaimed the border territory.