The Ukrainian offensive into the Kursk region surprised Poland as much as it did many other Western partners. Polish authorities refrained from commenting on the military rationale of the operation, focusing instead on Ukraine's right to self-defense and its ability to use Western long-range equipment.

The "several thousand" Russian civilians still living in territory occupied by Ukrainian troops are mostly elderly and largely cut off from the outside world, with no electricity or phone network, according to Ukrainian soldiers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the U.N. was turning a blind eye to excesses committed by Ukrainian forces in their incursion into Russia's Kursk region, launched last month.

It has now been several weeks since Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. This move caught many by surprise, including Russia and Ukraine’s allies in the West. It marked the first time in more than 80 years that Russian territory had fallen under the control of an outside power.