The United States has blacklisted a network accused of aiding financial payments between Russia and North Korea, two isolated countries that have grown financially and militarily closer amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on a network of five groups and one person, based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, for enabling payments between Russia and North Korea,

The United States has imposed sanctions against individuals and entities involved in illegal financial transactions between Russia and North Korea, according to the US Department of the Treasury. As noted by the agency,

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,

The Kremlin is said to have tasked its army with pushing Ukrainian forces out of Russia's Kursk region in less than a month. But how doable is it, especially given Ukraine's next move in its incursion?