MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that its forces had reclaimed 12 settlements in the Kursk region, which had been captured by Ukraine during last year’s incursion.

"Units of the Sever (North) group of forces liberated 12 settlements during the offensive: Agronomist, Bogdanovka, Bondarevka, Dmitryukov, Zazulevka, Ivashkovsky, Kolmakov, Kubatkin, Martynovka, Mikhaylovka, Pravda, and Yuzhny," the ministry said.

The military service also claimed that over the past day, Russian forces had retaken more than 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) of territory in the Kursk region.

Meanwhile, Valery Gerasimov, the Russian army's chief of the General Staff, reviewed the progress of the Kursk group's combat operations on Tuesday, the ministry reported.

His visit followed an operation carried out by Russian forces in the vicinity of the city of Sudzha, where servicemen from a combined assault squad advanced about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) through enemy lines via a subterranean pipeline, surfacing near the city within Ukrainian defenses.

The ministry said that after engaging in active battles behind enemy lines, the assault squad helped Russian forces break through Ukraine's fortifications by coordinating with them from opposite directions.

"Thanks to the daring operation of the combined assault squad, the defense management system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was disrupted along the entire combat line in the Kursk region, enabling the liberation of more than eight settlements in just a few days," it added.

Ukraine has yet to comment on Russia’s claims, and independent verification remains difficult due to the ongoing conflict.