All Ukrainian troops have been forced from parts of Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow lost control of last year to a surprise Ukrainian incursion, Russia’s top general said in a Kremlin meeting Saturday.

Ukraine denied that it had been pushed out of the region and said that its military operations inside Russia were continuing.

Ukrainian units quickly drove deep into the Kursk region in several directions, meeting little resistance and sowing chaos and panic. As the most capable Russian units were fighting in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Moscow didn’t have enough land forces to protect the Kursk region and other border areas.