Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk region today for the first time since the surprise invasion of Ukrainian troops into the Russian border region in August last year, TASS reported, citing his press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
The visit was made against the backdrop of Russian military successes in the Kursk region in recent times.
Putin held a meeting at one of the command posts of Russia's Kursk Group of Forces and listened to a report by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov.
He reported to the president that more than 1,100 square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region had been liberated - over 86% of the area in the western Russian region that had been captured by the enemy.
Ukrainian armed forces lost in Kursk more than 67 thousand servicemen, including its best-trained and motivated soldiers, Gerasimov also said. This data has not been independently verified.