Syrskyi: Ukrainian forces control about 1,000 square kilometres of Kursk Oblast

Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on August 12 that Ukrainian units control about 1,000 square kilometres of Russia's Kursk Oblast, seven days after crossing the border on August 6. It was Kyiv's first official figure on an operation it had kept silent about for days.

Acting Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov said the same day that 28 settlements were under Ukrainian control, that more than 121,000 people had been evacuated from border areas and that the whereabouts of some 2,000 residents were unknown. Evacuations also began in parts of neighbouring Belgorod Oblast.

Sudzha and the gas hub

Fighting is under way around Sudzha, home to the metering station through which Russian gas still flows via Ukraine to Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the operation a "large-scale provocation" and ordered Ukrainian forces to be "driven out", while a counter-terrorism operation regime was declared in three border regions.