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Kursk captures and a church ban debated
Summary
A look back at 14 August 2024, when Ukraine's president spoke of more than 100 Russian prisoners and the first days of the Kursk offensive.
What did Ukraine say it had gained in Russia's Kursk Oblast by 14 August 2024? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had captured more than 100 Russian soldiers in the previous 24 hours of their offensive there. He added that he was open to exchanging them for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
How the offensive was framed
Six days earlier, on 8 August 2024, Zelenskyy had appeared to confirm that he ordered a major cross-border operation inside Russia. He said then that Russia had brought war to Ukraine's land and should feel what it had done.
Other developments in the days before
On 10 August 2024, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko increased Belarus's defensive presence on the border with Ukraine. He accused Ukraine of illegally sending about a dozen intercepted drones across the border into Belarusian airspace.
The same day, Zelenskyy announced that the government was deliberating a ban on a traditionally Russia-linked branch of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, with the aim of strengthening the country's spiritual independence.
The prisoner announcement of 14 August 2024 tied the Kursk operation to the question of exchanges, alongside the border and church debates of the preceding days.
