Russian forces advanced 477 square kilometers in Ukraine in August, their largest monthly advance since October 2022, according to data gathering confirmed and claimed movements provided by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and analyzed by AFP.
The Ukrainian army had for its part advanced rapidly in early August in Russia, in the Russian border region of Kursk, over more than 1,100 km² in two weeks and less than 35 km from the regional capital. But this new front is gradually freezing, fluctuating between 1,150 and 1,300 km² of advances over the last 15 days.
Key information to remember
⇒ in August, largest advance of Russian forces since October 2022
⇒ Putin wants to “take care” of Ukrainian soldiers present in Kursk
⇒ A Ukrainian attack in Belgorod
The spectacular advance of the Russian army
Russian troops advanced into Ukraine at a rate of more than 15 square kilometers per day in August, the vast majority in the Donetsk region. Most of these gains were made towards the important logistics hub of Pokrovsk, which the Russian army had closed to within 7 kilometers of by Sunday evening.
The last time Moscow took so much territory in a month, in October 2022, it was in response to the major Ukrainian counter-offensive around Kharkiv (northeast), in a phase of the conflict where the front line was much more mobile than today.
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Since the beginning of 2024, Moscow has resumed its expansion into Ukrainian territory, with 1,730 km² of additional advances. This is already three times more than in 2023, when its smaller gains were also cancelled out by Ukrainian counter-offensives. But in recent months, Kiev’s troops have struggled to counter-attack on their own soil. In 2024, only 8 days have seen the Ukrainian army regain more ground than it was giving up to the Russians, with generally very marginal advances of a few km².
Putin wants to “take care” of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk
Vladimir Putin assured on Monday that he will “take care” of the Ukrainian soldiers who have been on the offensive in the border region of Kursk since the beginning of August, while welcoming the fact that this operation has not been able to “stop” the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine.
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“We must deal with these bandits who have penetrated into the territory of Russia, in the Kursk region, and are trying to destabilize the situation in the border territories as a whole,” the Russian president said during a meeting with schoolchildren.
Vladimir Putin, however, stressed that Ukraine “has not achieved the main task (it) set itself: to stop the (Russian) offensive in Donbass.” The Ukrainian army caught Russian forces off guard in the Kursk region, quickly seizing hundreds of square kilometers and dozens of localities, before being slowed down. According to Vladimir Putin, Russian troops are now advancing several square kilometers in each attack, and no longer a few hundred meters as before. “It has been a long time since we have seen such a pace of offensive in Donbass,” he said.
22 Russian missiles shot down overnight
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 22 Russian missiles overnight Sunday into Monday, in attacks targeting kyiv and northeastern Ukraine that injured civilians, the country’s authorities said. “During the night, Russia fired 35 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and 23 drones at Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday on X.
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In a statement Monday morning, the Air Force said Russia had attacked the capital kyiv and the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv (northeast) with 14 cruise missiles, 16 ballistic missiles and 4 anti-aircraft missiles and another of a type that was still “unspecified”. Of the 35 missiles, 22 were shot down, according to the source: 9 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles. In addition, 20 out of 23 Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones were neutralized, according to the Air Force.
Three injured in kyiv
In the capital, the attacks injured three people, according to the head of the Kiev military administration, Sergiy Popko. “One person received medical assistance on the spot, two others were hospitalized,” he explained on Telegram on Monday. During the night, strong explosions were heard and seen in kyiv, according to several AFP journalists, who saw people running into the streets to seek refuge in shelters.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said an Islamic cultural center in the capital had been “seriously damaged” by the strikes, denouncing “barbaric acts” by Russia.
Strikes in Sumy
In the city of Sumy (northeast), a social and psychological support center for children and an orphanage were hit Sunday evening by a Russian strike, injuring 18 people, including six minors, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced on Telegram, without specifying whether this attack was part of the wave of missiles or an isolated attack carried out as part of the ground offensive.
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Bombing claims one life in Kharkiv region
In the Kharkiv region (northeast), a 65-year-old woman lost her life in a shelling that hit a residential building in the early morning in Kupiansk, regional governor Oleg Synegubov announced on Telegram. “There will be an answer to everything. The enemy will feel it,” reacted Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office.
Ukrainian attack in Belgorod
On the Russian side, during the night, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported a Ukrainian airstrike that left one person injured and damaged, among other things, a business and infrastructure in the city of Belgorod.
Putin in Mongolia
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia on Monday, Russian television reported, marking his first trip to a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since an arrest warrant was issued for him. The ICC and Ukrainian authorities have called on Mongolia to arrest Putin, who is the target of the warrant on suspicion of illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russia, but the Kremlin has said it has “no concerns” about the matter.
