A senior Russian military officer says his country's troops have retaken 10 settlements from Ukrainian forces in Russia's western border region of Kursk.

Ukrainian forces have been carrying out cross-border attacks in Kursk since early August. Ukraine has said that its troops had seized about 1,300 square kilometers of the region and put 100 settlements under its control as of late August.

On Wednesday, Russia's state-run Tass news agency quoted the high-ranking defense ministry official as saying that the situation is good, and Russian units have gone on the offensive. He said a total of about 10 communities were taken back in Kursk.

A US think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, says "available visual evidence suggests that Russian forces counterattacking in Kursk Oblast are operating in company-sized units and may be using elements of more combat-experienced units to conduct counterattacks."

The institute also says "the size, scale, and potential prospects of the September 11 Russian counterattacks in Kursk Oblast are unclear and the situation remains fluid." It adds "it is premature to draw conclusions about Russia's new counterattacks."

Since Ukrainian forces began their cross-border incursion, Russia has not yet appeared to launch a large-scale counteroffensive. All eyes are on whether the Russian military has kicked off a full-fledged campaign to recapture the occupied land.