Kyiv, Ukraine - The Ukrainian armed forces have taken further areas "near the border of Ukraine" during their invasion of the Russian region of Kursk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in its daily video address on Wednesday evening.

Zelensky did not provide further details, but said that further Russian prisoners of war had been taken for a possible exchange.

"Thank you, warriors! This is something that will help bring home many of our people from Russian captivity," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian troops invaded Russia in a surprise incursion into the Kursk region on August 6.

Joke of the Day Joke of the Day for December 21, 2024: The best cat jokes to get your funny on for Caturday

In his address on Wednesday, Zelensky said the offensive helps to prevent Russia from putting Ukrainian forces in the embattled eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine under even more pressure.

However, so far, there has been no visible improvement for troops in Donetsk, with Western military observers attesting to progress made by Russian troops in the Pokrovsk district.

Zelensky also conceded that the situation in Donetsk was "extremely difficult."

"The key Russian efforts and their largest forces are concentrated there," he said.

Authorities have ordered the residents of Pokrovsk, a strategically important city that is home to a railway junction, to evacuate in view of the impending advance of Russian troops, but there are still 38,000 people left in the city, including 1,900 children.

The head of the Donetsk military administration, Vadym Filashkin, announced that all banks in Pokrovsk would remain closed from Monday. Only cash machines would still be working.