Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war during a single incident in eastern Ukraine last month, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said on Friday. The authorities said in a statement that Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers after capturing them during an assault on their position on Oct.

Forty-six displaced Russian civilians, who were forcibly taken to Ukraine during the Kursk offensive, have been returned to Russia.

Ukraine has lost more than 40% 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 said.