In announcing the ban, Ukraine says it's uncovered evidence that Russian agents can access private user messages on Telegram, including deleted correspondence.

Ukraine has banned use of the Telegram messaging app on official devices used by state officials, military personnel and critical workers because it believes its enemy Russia can spy on both messages and users,

Moscow was aware of Ukraine's plan to launch a surprise offensive into its Western Kursk region as far back as 2023, according to recently revealed Russian documents. Now 45 days into the raid, Russia has so far failed to push Ukraine's forces out of its Western territories,

Russia said on Friday that its army would regain control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner", declining to say how soon this could be achieved. Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two,

Russian commanders anticipated that Ukraine was planning an incursion into Kursk Oblast months before it occurred, the Guardian reported on Sept. 20, citing a collection of documents that Ukrainian soldiers said they had seized from abandoned Russian positions.