Earlier in the day, the Kremlin announced that the operation to liberate the Kursk Region from the Ukrainian armed forces had been completed.
"The immense losses suffered by the enemy, including among Ukraine's most efficient, well trained and well equipped - including with Western weapons - groups of armed forces, and those are assault squads and special forces, will undoubtedly have an impact on the entire front line," Putin said during a video call with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.