Ukraine said on Thursday it had captured more than 900 Russian troops over six months of fighting in the western Russian Kursk region.
Kyiv says a key goal of its struggling operation launched in August just over its border with Russia was to build up reserves of Russian soldiers to exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
鈥楧uring the operation, Ukrainian forces captured 909 Russian servicemen, significantly replenishing the exchange fund,鈥� the Ukrainian military said in a statement.
鈥楾his made it possible to bring home hundreds of Ukrainian defenders who had been held in Russian prisons,鈥� it added.
Kyiv and Moscow still cooperate on prisoner exchanges despite being at war for nearly three years, and Ukraine has made returning its captured troops a priority.
Last year, the Ukrainian military said its forces had captured more than 700 Russian troops during operations in the Kursk region.
After launched its shock offensive 鈥� the largest by a foreign army in Russia since World War II 鈥� Ukrainian forces have been losing the swathes of Russian territory they initially captured.
Kyiv says the ground it holds in Kursk will be an important bargaining chip in any future peace negotiations with Russia, whose forces have been making steady gains across the front line in eastern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian drone hit a Russian border village on Thursday, killing two teenaged girls and a man, the governor of Russia鈥檚 Belgorod region said.
The strike targeted the village of Logachevka in the Belgorod region, which has a border crossing with Ukraine鈥檚 Kharkiv region.
The crossing has been closed since Moscow launched its 2022 offensive on Ukraine.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the drone hit a car near the village, adding: 鈥榓 man and two girls aged 18 and 14 are believed to have been in the car they died at the scene.鈥�
Russia has established a no-go zone in the border area in Belgorod since October 2022, warning civilians not to enter due to the risk of Ukrainian attacks.
Gladkov urged people and not go there.
鈥楨ntering Logachevka is prohibited. I would like to once again appeal to all residents: the settlements that are closed off by the decision of the operational headquarters should not be visited!,鈥� he said.
Ukraine has launched drones into Russia throughout its almost three-year offensive, with cross-border attacks on villages in the Belgorod region common.
