Russia has taken two villages in the western Kursk region, a senior commander said, as Russian forces advance against thousands of Ukrainian forces who smashed through the Russian border last month.

Russia's counter-offensive to retake Ukrainian-held territory in the Kursk region has been "stopped", a spokesman from Ukraine's military administration there told AFP Wednesday, after Moscow said it was beginning to repel the surprise incursion.

The village is 20 miles west of the main Ukrainian salient in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Six weeks ago, a powerful Ukrainian force—around a dozen battalions from eight or so experienced brigades—invaded Kursk and quickly gained control of 400 square miles of Russian soil.