Both Russia and Ukraine claim to down drones overnight

Russia and Ukraine have both claimed to have downed a number of enemy drones in an overnight exchange.

Russia launched 68 drones and four missiles targeting Ukrainian territory overnight, Ukraine's air force said.

Two Iskander-M ballistic missiles struck Poltava and Odesa regions and two Kh-59 guided air missiles targeted the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the air forces said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine's air defence units destroyed 31 of the drones, while 36 were unaccounted for, most likely intercepted by Ukraine's electronic warfare, the air force said.

The remaining drone was still in the air, it said.

Russia's air defence units destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight over three regions bordering Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said.

Six drones each were downed over the Belgorod and Kursk region, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. One drone was destroyed over the Bryansk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Russian forces had tried to oust Ukrainian troops from positions in Russia's Kursk border region, but that Kyiv's forces were holding their lines.

"Regarding the Kursk operation, Russia tried to push back our positions, but we are holding the designated lines," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that its forces had recaptured two villages in the border Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops launched a mass incursion in August.

Mr Zelensky acknowledged that the Ukrainian advance into Kursk was intended to draw Russian troops away from frontline positions in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have been making steady gains in recent months.

In his address, Mr Zelensky said that in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, partly held by Russian forces, "there are very difficult conditions, with harsh enemy actions. But the resilience of our units is crucial. Everything depends on our resilience."

Russia's defence ministry on Friday announced the capture of Ostrivske, a village on a reservoir near the town of Kurakhove, a key Russian target in its advance through Donetsk region.

Ukraine has not acknowledged the loss of the village, but military bloggers have reported Russian advances in the area.