As the war enters its 901st day, here are the top developments.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.
Raid on Kursk
- Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii said Kiev troops had taken control of 74 settlements in Russia's Kursk region and were continuing to advance, gaining control over 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) of territory in the past 24 hours.
- In Russia, special forces commander Gen. Apti Alaudinov said Ukrainian troops had been stopped. The Defense Ministry said Russian troops had repelled attacks on villages about 26 to 28 kilometers from the border. Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov called on residents to show patience and character, warning that “the crisis has not yet been overcome.”
- US President Joe Biden said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia had “created a real dilemma” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his first substantive comments since Kiev launched its surprise attack on August 6, Biden said he had been briefed on developments every four to five hours. Officials stressed that the US had no role in planning or preparing for the attack.
- Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said Russia was moving troops from its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad to Kursk.
- Russia called an informal meeting of the UN Security Council and criticised Ukraine’s allies for failing to condemn kyiv’s incursion. “We will not recognise the aggressor as a victim,” said senior Slovenian diplomat Klemen Ponikvar, one of several members who accused Russia of hypocrisy, double standards and wasting the council’s time. Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently occupies around a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.
Fighting in Ukraine
- At least one person was killed and two wounded in a Russian airstrike in Ukraine's Sumy region bordering Kursk. The Sumy regional military administration said it had recorded 45 Russian attacks on Tuesday, including guided bomb attacks, drone explosions and shelling.
- Ukraine's General Staff said it was restricting the movement of civilians within a 20-kilometer (12-mile) border zone in Sumy due to an “increase in the intensity of hostilities” and the activation of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the area.
- Two people were killed and 30 injured after a bus was hit by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied town of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported, citing Russian-appointed local officials.
- The Ukrainian military said Russian forces had stepped up their attacks on the Pokrovsk front in eastern Ukraine. The General Staff said 52 battles had taken place in the area in the past 24 hours, more than a third of all battles recorded along the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front line of the war.
- Russia launched 38 attack drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Thirty of the drones were destroyed in eight Ukrainian regions, it added. It was not clear what happened to the weapons that were not destroyed.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine's President's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine plans to hold a follow-up conference this month to the peace summit held in Switzerland in June. The meeting will be held online and will focus on energy security, he said.
