More than 200 people were evacuated from Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region as Moscow carries out an intense aerial campaign to reclaim the area from Ukraine. View on euronews

Russian forces have begun an assault on the town of Sudzha, the main population center in the Kursk region that was captured by Ukraine last year, a top Russian commander said on Tuesday. The advance puts Moscow on the verge of ending the first invasion of Russian territory since World War II.

Russia has taken back the biggest town in Kursk from Ukrainian soldiers, with President Vladimir Putin warning that Kyiv’s remaining force in the region is now trapped and must “surrender or die.”  He also warned that any Ukrainian forces captured in the Russian territory would be treated as “terrorists” — not as prisoners of war — adding that “foreign mercenaries” aren’t subject to the laws of the Geneva Convention.