“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he said.

The deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, former President Dmitry Medvedev, posted on social media that the flipside for Kyiv was that “if they refuse to lay down their arms, they will all be methodically and mercilessly destroyed”.

Seven months on, it is once again in the spotlight, as Russian forces attempt to flush out the last remaining Ukrainians and the US urges Russia to agree to a ceasefire in the wider war.

Reports of alleged ‘encirclement’ are false, Ukraine says

“Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine have successfully regrouped, withdrawn to more advantageous defensive positions, and are executing their assigned tasks within the Kursk region.”

Ukraine’s border guard service said it repelled an attempt by a 10-person Russian reconnaissance group to break into Ukrainian territory in Sumy region, which borders Kursk.