Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory it previously gained in Russia's Kursk Oblast due to Russian counterattacks, Reuters reported on Nov. 23, citing a source in Ukraine's General Staff.

KYIV, Ukraine >> Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counterassaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.

Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.

The Ukrainian source revealed that their forces initially controlled up to 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles) of territory in Kursk but now hold around 800 square kilometres (309 square miles).

Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counterassaults, a senior Ukrainian military source has said.

The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War Two and caught Moscow unprepared.

Russia said on Friday that Ukraine had returned 46 Russian citizens who were taken there after Ukrainian forces seized a chunk of Russia's western Kursk region in August.