While the earlier warnings were largely vague, they grew increasingly more detailed — including specific threats that Ukraine would try to seize the town of Sudzha — a warning that was realized after Ukraine captured it in August.

Russia said on Friday that its army would regain control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner", declining to say how soon this could be achieved. Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two,

Russian military command had predicted that Ukraine might launch an operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast and spent several months planning how to prevent it, according to documents seized by the Ukrainian army from abandoned Russian positions in the region.