Ukraine says Russia has 50,000 troops in Kursk

Ukraine said on Monday its hard-pressed military was battling 50,000 troops in Russia's Kursk region to its north, while also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in the east and bracing to meet an infantry assault in the south.

The escalating fighting along a more than 1,000 kilometers front line is stretching Ukraine's already outnumbered troops at a critical moment after Donald Trump won the US election, raising the prospect of possible talks with Russia.

Russia occupies a fifth of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin has said he wants Kyiv to drop ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, something Kyiv says is tantamount to capitulation.