Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
While Ukraine’s forces continue to make progress in their incursion into the Russian Kursk region, they are losing ground to Russia back home in the east.
Overnight, Moscow claimed to have repelled an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team to cross the border in the Bryansk region – around 150 miles (240km) from the site of their Kursk attack.
Similarly, a senior Russian commander said they had begun to push Ukrainian forces back in Kursk – but warned Kyiv’s forces were regrouping for a counterpunch.
And with Kursk officials building concrete shelters for civilians, they clearly don’t expect the fighting to be over anytime soon.
Having destroyed three bridges, and attacked replacement pontoons, Kyiv will likely look to claim more ground in the coming days.
However, in the east of Ukraine, the situation is worsening as Russian soldiers continue a slow advance towards a number of important towns and settlements.
Reports from within the Ukrainian army claim that some new soldiers have refused to fire at the enemy, and others struggle with combat basics – in part contributing to losses in the east.
Ahead of the weekend, the US embassy has warned of a higher risk of Russian missile and drone attacks to coincide with Ukraine’s Independence Day.
Finally, both Russia and Ukraine are conducting high-profile political meetings as the war continues.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese premier Li Qiang yesterday.
While the two spoke freely about trade, it isn’t clear whether they discussed the war in Ukraine as an isolated Moscow increasingly leans on Beijing for political and economic support.
Similarly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow.
It comes around six weeks after Mr Modi visited Moscow, and analysts say the visit could be an attempt by India to strike a more neutral stance on the war, after what has been perceived as a recent lean towards Russia.