Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the early days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of London over the past month, analysts and war bloggers said on Tuesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces were preparing a response to Ukraine’s recent attacks using US-supplied ATACMS missiles on air defense units in the Kursk border region. “In the last three days, the AFU carried out two strikes at objects in ...