Kyiv: Ukraine said Tuesday its forces had launched new offensive operations in Russia's Kursk region and launched a "precision" strike on a Russian military command post there.

In an English-language statement, Kyiv's army said that the strike near Belaya in the Kursk region was "coordinated with the Ukrainian Ground Forces who are currently commencing new offensive operations."

Meanwhile, Kyiv's army said it was clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine's east that Russia said it had seized the previous day.

Moscow hailed the capture of the "important logistics hub", saying it would enable Russian forces to seize the rest of the eastern Donetsk region "at an accelerated pace".

But the Ukrainian army said Tuesday fighting was still ongoing on the fringes of the town and accused Russia of using scorched-earth tactics to "completely destroy" it.

"Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town," Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia army unit, which is fighting in the area, said in an interview on national TV.

A "large part of the town has been destroyed", he said, adding that Russians were grinding through the area, clearing the town building by building. AFP