Reuters news agency has quoted sources as saying that Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range missile attacks in the coming days.

This follows US media reports that US President Joe Biden had authorized the Ukrainian military to use the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to reach inside Russia. The reports say the weapons are expected to be used to fight Russian and North Korean troops in the western Russian region of Kursk.

The US think tank Institute for the Study of War has pointed out that the partial lifting of restrictions on Ukraine's use of such weapons within the Kursk region will not completely deprive Russian forces of their sanctuary in Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Russia's Tass news agency reported that the head of the Russian lower house international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, warned that the use of US missiles for attacks inside Russian regions will inevitably lead to a serious escalation.

US media outlet Bloomberg has quoted people familiar with assessments made by some in the Group of 20 nations as saying that North Korea may deploy as many as 100,000 troops to aid Russia's war on Ukraine.