Thousands of Ukraine troops on Russia incursion: Kyiv official

"Thousands" of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion into the Kursk region in Russia which aims to "stretch" Russian forces and "destabilise" the country, a senior Ukrainian security official has told AFP.

"We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The situation is basically unchanged. Their pressure in the east continues, they are not pulling back troops from the area" but "the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit," the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

This has greatly raised our morale, the morale of the Ukrainian army, state and society," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding: "This operation has shown that we can go on the offensive, move forward." he added.