Ukraine's top military commander on August 13 said Ukrainian forces have taken control of 74 settlements in Russia's Kursk region as Ukrainian forces continued to make headway.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by video link, telling him Kyiv's military had advanced in different directions by up to 3 kilometers over the past 24 hours and had seized 40 square kilometers of new territory.
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Zelesnskiy said on Telegram that he is constantly in touch with Syrskiy to receive reports on the front and the operation in the Kursk region. Despite the difficult, intense battles the advance continues, he said.
"I am grateful to our soldiers for their heroic service," he said.
Zelenskiy said later in a video message that hundreds of Russian soldiers surrendered to Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region and all of them are guaranteed humane treatment.
In a separate post on Telegram, Zelenskiy said he met in Kyiv with Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas, who told him Russia is moving troops from its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to the Kursk region.
Some military analysts have said Ukraine may have launched the incursion to draw the Kremlin's forces away from the front line to defend Kursk and other border areas. But Ukraine's General Staff said Kremlin forces had intensified their attacks in eastern Ukraine. In its assessment late on August 13, the General Staff said in the previous 24 hours Russian troops launched 52 assaults in the area of Pokrovsk, a town in Ukraine's Donetsk region that is close to the front line. That's roughly double the number of daily attacks there a week ago.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on August 13 he had informed EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell about Kyiv's operation in the Kursk region. Kuleba said on X that during his call with Borrell, weapons manufacturing and deliveries were also discussed.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region on August 6 and have occupied about 1,000 square kilometers and numerous population centers.
It is not possible to verify battlefield claims, although some reports have suggested deeper incursions by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy said on August 13 that "Ukraine is not interested in taking over the territory of the Kursk region."
He said Russia had launched more than 2,000 strikes from the Kursk region in recent months using antiaircraft missiles, artillery, mortars, drones, 255 glide bombs, and more than 100 missiles.
"The purpose of this operation is to preserve the lives of our children, to protect the territory of Ukraine from Russian strikes," he said. "These Ukrainian actions are absolutely legitimate."
The Kursk region's acting governor, Aleksei Smirnov, reported to President Vladimir Putin on August 12 that 28 settlements were "under enemy control."
"The depth of the penetration into the territory of the Kursk region is 12 kilometers, the width of the front is 40 kilometers," he said.
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As Fighting Continues In Kursk Region, Kyiv Says Its Forces Have Advanced Deeper Into Russia
Repeating a Russian government talking point and without providing evidence, Russian Major General Apty Alaudinov, who is commander of the Akhmat special forces unit, said on Russian state TV that "the headquarters of the NATO bloc certainly took part in the development of the operation."
U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on August 13 that the United States is not engaged in any aspect, planning, or preparation of Ukraine's incursion into Russia.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre also said the United States had no advance notice from Ukraine that it planned the military incursion and had no involvement in it. U.S. officials have been seeking clarification from Ukraine about its objectives, she added.
Nearly the entire civilian population of the Krasnoyaruzh district of Russia's Belgorod region, located to the southeast of the Kursk region, has been evacuated, the region's governor said earlier.
"More than 11,000 people have left," Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram early on August 13. "At present, about 1,000 people are in temporary housing."
The district's prewar population was about 14,000 people.
The governor announced the evacuation of the district on August 12 and closed off access to the area. The district head, Andrei Miskov, said the 500 people remaining in the area were mostly officials, emergency workers, and key specialists.
The Krasnoyaruzh district borders Ukraine to the west and the Kursk region's embattled Belov district to the north.
Ukrainian forces posted a video on August 12 that has been geolocated to the center of the Kursk region town of Sudzha. The exact date of the video is unclear, but Ukrainian soldiers can be heard saying that they had not yet encountered any Russian forces.
Russian military vloggers have reported that Sudzha, about 10 kilometers from the border with a prewar population of more than 5,000 people, was under Ukrainian control.
Russia's Defense Ministry said 12 Ukrainian drones had been "destroyed" overnight over the Kursk region and one each over the Belgorod and Voronezh regions.
Across the border in Ukraine's Sumy region, the Russian military carried out overnight strikes that damaged civilian energy infrastructure and several private cars, the region's military administration reported.
One civilian was reportedly wounded.
Ukraine's General Staff announced restrictions on the movement of civilians in the Sumy region within 20 kilometers of the border with Russia, citing the "increasing intensity of hostilities."