The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia's forces would restore control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner," declining to say how soon this could be achieved.

Ukraine on August 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia, bursting through the border into the western Kursk region supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.

Russia has been fighting since then to expel the Ukrainian forces. On Thursday, a senior Russian commander said Russian troops had recaptured two villages in the Kursk region. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added on Friday that Russian authorities did not doubt that its forces would restore control over the region, though the situation there was "extreme."