Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that his country has regained control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year, though Ukraine’s army says fighting continues.

A senior Central Intelligence Agency official’s son who had joined the Russian military was killed last year during an offensive in eastern Ukraine. The agency said it was a private tragedy and not a national security issue.

Ukraine has denied Russian claims that it has been forced out of Russia's Kursk region.Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia's military, said his forces had regained full control of the region, eight months after Ukrainian forces first launched a surprise incursion into the border region,