The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have taken control of 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory. This statement was made on Monday, August 12, by the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrsky.
At a meeting of the Headquarters, Syrsky reported to the President of Ukraine that the Ukrainian military «controls the situation» in several areas of the Kursk region, but did not name specific areas.
Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to submit a list of necessary actions so that Western allies would give Kyiv permission to use long-range weapons to strike Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier on August 12 that the Russian army continues to repel attempts by Ukrainian troops to advance across Russian territory. Over the past week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost up to 1,610 people during military operations in the Kursk direction, and over the past 24 hours, up to 260 servicemen.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin stressed that the Russian Armed Forces are advancing along the entire line of combat contact in the special military operation zone, despite Kyiv's provocations. At the same time, the pace of the offensive after the events in the Kursk region not only did not decrease, but increased by 1.5 times. According to the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexey Smirnov, 28 settlements are under the control of the Ukrainian army. The politician specified that the enemy's penetration depth was 12 km, the width — 40 km.
Earlier, a Ukrainian fighter captured in the Kursk region said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces planned to first reach Kursk, and then Belgorod in order to seize «more territory» for their subsequent exchange during peace talks. The commanders called this operation Ukraine's last hope.
Following this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly admitted for the first time that Ukrainian troops had attacked the Kursk region, stating that «there was a report from Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky regarding our defensive actions at the front and the operation in the Kursk region.»