Russia said on Tuesday its forces had advanced by 1,000 square kilometers in eastern Ukraine in August and September despite a Ukrainian incursion into western Russia, which ruled out any cease-fire talks with Kyiv.

Since Russia sent armored forces into Ukraine in February 2022, the war has largely been a story of grinding artillery and drone strikes along a heavily fortified 1,000-km front involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that the Aug. 6 Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region had aimed to improve Kyiv's negotiating position and divert Russian forces from the Donbas front in eastern Ukraine.