LAST UPDATE | 13 Aug 2024

UKRAINE IS NOW in control of 74 settlements in Russia’s Kursk border region, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Ukrainian forces entered the region last Tuesday in the biggest attack by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II. Russian authorities have said over 120,000 people had been evacuated.

“There are 74 settlements under the control of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

The president said that “despite difficult, intense fighting, the advance of our forces in the Kursk region continues.”

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has been able to “replenish” its numbers of Russian POWs to exchange for its own troops and “preparation for our next steps continues”.

He posted footage showing him holding a video call with military chief Oleksandr Syrsky.

Постійно на зв’язку з Головкомом Олександром Сирським: доповіді щодо фронту та нашої операції в Курській області. Попри складні, інтенсивні бої, просування наших сил на Курщині триває, обмінний фонд для нашої держави поповнюється.

Під контролем України 74 населені пункти. Там… pic.twitter.com/YOhz33r9y8

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 13, 2024

Syrsky tells him: “As of today, our troops have advanced in some areas by 1 to 3 kilometres.”

In the last day, Ukraine has taken control of “40 square kilometres of territory”, Syrsky adds, after saying Monday that the troops hold around 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory.

“Fighting is ongoing along the entire front line. The situation is under control despite the high intensity of fighting,” Syrsky said.

‘Just peace’

It comes after Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will not hold on to Russian territory captured in its surprise cross-border incursion, offering to stop the operation if Moscow agreed a “just peace”.

Russia said today it had fended off new attacks in Kursk.

Zelenskyy told the nation in his evening address yesterday that the cross-border offensive was “purely a security issue”.

Foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy has said today that Ukraine is not interested in “taking over” Russian territory and defended its incursion across the border as “absolutely legitimate”.

“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace… the sooner the raids by the Ukrainian defences forces into Russia will stop,” he told reporters.

Ukraine meanwhile said it was imposing movement restrictions in a 20-kilometre zone in the Sumy region along the border with Kursk due to an “increase in the intensity of hostilities” and “sabotage” activities.

The Kursk region in western Russia highlighted Google maps Google maps

Russia’s defence ministry said today it had “foiled” new Ukrainian attacks in Kursk by “enemy mobile groups in armoured vehicles to break through deep into Russian territory”.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s FSB security service, also said in a statement that Ukraine had carried out the attack “with the support of the collective West”.

Ukraine’s General Staff said today that over the previous 24 hours, Russian troops had launched 52 assaults in the area of Pokrovsk, a town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region that is close to the front line. That is roughly double the number of daily attacks there a week ago.

‘I saw a lot of death’

“They didn’t protect the border,” a Ukrainian serviceman who took part in the offensive and identified himself as Ruzhyk told the AFP news agency in Sumy.

“They only had anti-personnel mines scattered around trees at the side of the road and a few mines that they managed to quickly throw along the highways,” he said.

A 27-year-old squad leader, who identified himself as Faraon, was sparing but direct in his description of battles in Kursk.

“I saw a lot of death in the first few days. It was terrifying at first but then we got used to it,” he said.

“There have been many deaths,” he repeated while standing next to a forest road leading to the frontier, without elaborating.

Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Bielieskov told AFP: “Russian complacency prevailed”.

“Russia assumed that since it had initiative elsewhere, Ukraine wouldn’t dare to do things we’ve seen,” he said, referring to months of Russian advances along the front in Ukraine.

People evacuated from Kursk arrive at a temporary residence center in the Moscow region. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Overnight attacks

Russia launched a major aerial offensive against Ukraine overnight, firing two ballistic missiles and 38 drones towards eight eastern regions of the country according to the Ukrainian air force.

This attack came after President Putin vowed to “dislodge” the Ukrainian troops who have entered the Kursk region. 

Anti-aircraft systems managed to intercept 30 drones overnight, according to a post to the Air Forces’ official Telegram page. The country has been put on high alert, as citizens were warned that more drone attacks could be imminent.

Vladimir Putin and his top security personnel yesterday Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Putin told a televised meeting with government officials that “one of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord” and “destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society”.

“The main task is, of course, for the defence ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories,” he said.

In the attack last night, Russia launched drones and two ballistic missiles towards eight Ukrainian regions, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia, Sumy, Kirovohrad, Kherson, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy.

According to Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, who posted to Telegram, the attack was sent from the Kursk region and neighbouring region Primorsko-Akhtarsk.

With reporting from David Mac Redmond, AFP and Press Association