Russia has launched a major counter-offensive in an attempt to dislodge Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region.

Both Ukrainian and Russian sources said that Kyiv’s troops had started losing some of the ground they seized in the audacious incursion that began on Aug 6.

On Wednesday, Maj Gen Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechen special forces fighting in Kursk, said Russian troops had gone on the offensive.

“The situation is good for us,” he said, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated.”

Mash, a pro-Kremlin channel on the Telegram messaging app, reported that Moscow’s forces had advanced up to 150 square kilometres into the Ukrainian-held salient in a “local counter-offensive in the region”.

Other prominent Russian military bloggers said their country’s troops had seized control of Snagost, a village south of Korenevo on the Ukrainian left flank.

Battlefield footage shared on social media appeared to show at least eight armoured vehicles and tanks operated by Russia’s 51st Guards Airborne Regiment advancing on Snagost.