Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin has real dilemma over Kursk attack says Biden as Kyiv strikes with 100 drones

Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk has stirred a “real dilemma” for Vladimir Putin, president Joe Biden said in his first comments on Kyiv’s operations on Russian soil. On the war front overnight, Ukraine fired at least 117 drones and four tactical missiles on Russian territory, including 37 on Kursk, Russian officials said.

“It’s creating a real dilemma for Putin,” Mr Biden said, adding that US officials are in constant touch with Ukrainians about the military raid.

Ukraine has taken control of 74 settlements in Russia’s region of Kursk and is still advancing, making gains of one to three km in the last 24 hours in its biggest cross-border assault of the war to date.

“Despite difficult and intense battles, our forces continue to advance in the Kursk region, and our state’s ‘exchange fund’ is growing,” Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to Russian prisoners of war who could be swapped for captured Ukrainian fighters.

Geolocated footage analysed by the Institute for the Study of War showed that Ukrainian forces are still “advancing further” into the Russian border region of Kursk as Moscow scrambled to open hundreds of shelters amid a mass evacuation. This is despite Russia’s false claims that the fierce fighting has stabilised.

Ukraine has said its forces are still advancing a week into its largest cross-border attack into Russia so far – but officials say that it has no interest in permanently keeping hold of the swathes of territory it has taken.

Ukraine blindsided Moscow by pouring troops into the western Russian region of Kursk last week in a surprise operation that Kyiv says has seen its forces take 1,000 sq km (390 sq miles) of land.

Ukraine said on Tuesday afternoon that its forces had taken control