Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his country's task is to "defeat the enemy" in the Kursk region, referring to Ukraine, "in the shortest possible time."

Putin made the comments during a visit to the Kursk region, where he received an update on the situation by Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov.

Meanwhile, Gerasimov informed the president that 86% of the Kursk region that Ukraine had previously occupied has been retaken by Russian forces and that Ukrainian forces are now "surrounded, isolated, and being systematically destroyed."