Ukraine claims to control 1,000 sq kms of Russian territory

In comments aired on state television, President Putin said on Monday: “One of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society.

“The main task is, of course, for the defence ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories,” he told a meeting of officials.

The region’s governor said 121,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. He told Mr Putin that about 2,000 Russian citizens remained in areas occupied by Ukrainian forces in the area.

“We don’t know anything about their fate,” he said.

He warned people to take shelter from missiles in rooms without windows and with solid walls.

In Belgorod, the region next to Kursk, about 11,000 people were also urged to leave, as governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told people from the Krasnaya Yaruga district they were being moved due to “enemy activity on the border”.

He issued a similar missile warning, and told people to shelter in their basements.