President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he sympathized with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO, and he lamented that he will not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.

Russia's advances in Ukraine over the past week plummeted to levels last seen in July, according to an analysis by an independent investigative Russian news outlet. Newsweek has contacted the Russian government for comment via email.

"I could understand their [Russia's] feelings about that," U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said during a Jan. 7 press conference.

Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his troops were ‘actively destroying Russian military potential’ in the Kursk region of Russia

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched a new offensive inside Russia's western Kursk border region, going on the attack with substantial forces.

Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, warning that Russia is “getting what it deserves.”

It comes as Ukraine's president says only the US can provide security guarantees leading to an end to the war.