Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has deployed nearly 50,000 troops to Kursk, the southern Russian region where Kyiv launched its surprise counteroffensive in the summer.

Ukraine said on Monday its hard-pressed military was battling 50,000 troops in Russia's Kursk region to its north, while also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in the east and bracing to meet an infantry assault in the south.