Replenishment of exchange fund for Ukraine: Syrskyi briefs Zelenskyy on current frontline situation

Zelenskyy wrote about this on Telegram.

"First, the Toretsk and Pokrovsk directions. Dozens of Russian assaults on our positions per day. But our soldiers and units are doing everything to destroy the occupier and repel the attacks. The situation is under control," he stressed.

He also noted that as of this morning, the exchange fund for our country has been replenished in Kursk region. The president thanked all the soldiers and commanders who are taking Russian soldiers prisoner and thus bringing the liberation of our soldiers and civilians held by Russia closer.

General Syrskyi also reported on the strengthening of the positions of the Ukrainian Defence Forces in Kursk region and the expansion of the stabilised territory.

"The third is to provide our actions with weapons and strong decisions. We are working on new support packages for our country from our partners. We are identifying priority items," Zelenskyy added.

He stressed that the main thing now is to limit Russia's offensive potential and our long-range capability.

"We are preparing appropriate instructions for Ukrainian diplomats," the Ukrainian president said.

Ukraine’s cross-border incursion in Russia’s Kursk region

On August 6, the authorities of Russia's Kursk region stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly tried to break through the Russian border, but were pushed back. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that "the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group retreated to its territory.”

On August 7, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin convened the Russian military leadership to discuss the situation in the Kursk region, which he called a "large-scale provocation." At the time, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the international community to "strongly condemn the Kyiv regime's criminal attacks on Russian territory."

On August 10, President Zelenskyy called the operation in the Kursk region “pushing the war into the aggressor's territory.” At night of the same day, the authorities introduced a counterterrorism operation in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions of Russia.

On August 14, it became known that the Ukrainian military had formed a “sanitary (buffer) zone” for self-defense in the Kursk region of Russia. It is planned to open humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, and if necessary, military commandant's offices will be established in the Russian region.

At a meeting with the president on August 15, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine had established the first military commandant's office in the Kursk region to provide humanitarian aid to local residents.

At the same time, Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, together with the military, is currently working on a possible route for a humanitarian corridor for civilians from Kursk to Sumy.

On August 15, The Independent reported that about 2,000 Russian servicemen were captured during an operation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.

On Friday, August 16, a bridge over the Seim River in the Glushkovsky district of Kursk region was destroyed.

Also on August 16, the Ukrainian military showed unique footage of the first hours of the Ukrainian Defense Forces' offensive in the Kursk region.