Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.

The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.

Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.

Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.

More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.

The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.

The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.

The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.

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But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.

Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.

Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.

The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.

Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.

Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.

Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.

Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.

“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”

Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.

A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.

Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.

Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.

Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he has “never had to buy rice” while the country struggles with shortages and rising costs of its staple grain.

Taku Eto offered his resignation to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday after he made the comments at a party seminar on Sunday.

Mr Eto said his supporters have always gifted him rice, meaning he does not have to buy it himself.

His comments immediately sparked a public backlash.

“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Mr Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.

He told the Kyodo news agency: “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not.

“Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.”

Opposition parties had threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against him if Mr Eto did not resign voluntarily by Wednesday afternoon.

Japan has been struggling with rice shortages since hot weather resulted in a poor harvest in 2023.

More recently, a government preparedness warning ahead of a major earthquake last August prompted panic buying – squeezing supplies even further.

Politicians have also blamed the rising cost of fertiliser and other related goods.

The crisis has seen the government release vast quantities of rice from its emergency stockpiles for the first time.

In April, Japan also imported the grain from South Korea for the first time in 25 years in a further bid to boost supplies and lower prices.

But shelf prices have continued to rise, reaching 4,268 yen (£22) per 5kg in the week to 11 May – double what it was a year ago.

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Mr Eto has been replaced by Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister who ran unsuccessfully against the prime minister for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last year.

The rice crisis is placing further strain on Mr Ishiba’s minority government – ahead of the country’s upcoming elections in July.