Vladimir Putin begins 'purge' of top generals after he accused Nato of playing part in Kursk invasion

Former Ukrainian adviser Anton Gerashchenko has claimed that sources within Russia indicated that "criminal cases are being prepared" for top military brass.

There are reports that Putin is particularly angry at Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who was suspiciously missing from Moscow's crunch Security Council meeting last Friday.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels also seemed to note his absence from the emergency meeting as Ukraine's forces pushed deeper into Russia, with one saying: "Observe who is here and who is not."

Another Telegram channel claimed Gerasimov was warned about a possible Kursk invasion as early as two weeks before it happened.

Head of the economic cooperation department at the foreign ministry Dmitry Birichevsky said economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia will remain in place for decades, even if there is a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

He said: "This is a story for decades to come. Whatever the developments and results of a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, it is, in fact, only a pretext...the sanctions were first introduced much earlier. Their ultimate goal is unfair competition."

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Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has positioned himself as a main backer of Vladimir Putin since the Russian president ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, part of which was staged from Belarusian soil.

Lukashenko said yesterday that Ukraine could target Belarus and widen the war.

Elsewhere, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed a pledge to deepen cooperation with Russia in a message to Putin as Pyongyang marked an anniversary of independence from Japan's colonial rule

Kim said: "The friendly feelings of the armies and peoples of the two countries forged and deepened in the bloody struggle against the common enemy serve as a strong driving force for developing...relations of friendship and cooperation into a comprehensive strategic partnership and invincible comradeship."

Ukraine's army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv's forces were advancing between one and three kilometres in some areas in Russia's Kursk region.

Kyiv has said it has taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometres (444 square miles) in the region after it launched a major cross-border attack on August 6.

Briefing President Zenensky via video link, Syrskyi reported fighting in the area of Malaya Loknya, some 11.5 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.