Kursk prisoners and a church ban: Ukraine's mid-August agenda
A look back at the political signals from Kyiv in the days around 15 August 2024, from captured soldiers to a proposed church ban.
What was Kyiv signalling in the days around 15 August 2024? The reports from the preceding week point to three threads: the offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast, tension on the Belarusian border, and a debate over religion in Ukrainian public life.
Prisoners from Kursk
On 14 August 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had captured more than 100 Russian soldiers in the previous 24 hours during the offensive in Kursk Oblast. He added that he was open to exchanging them for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
A harder line on the church
On 10 August 2024, Zelenskyy announced that the government was deliberating a ban on a traditionally Russia-linked branch of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The stated aim was to strengthen the country's "spiritual independence". The announcement came against a backdrop of wider attention to the part religion plays in the war. Peter Mandaville of the United States Institute of Peace has said that the conflict is not only a matter of horrible violence but also one with deeply rooted religious significance.
Tension to the north
The same day, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko increased his country's defensive presence on the border with Ukraine. He had accused Ukraine of illegally sending about a dozen intercepted drones across the border into Belarusian airspace.
Taken together, these reports show a government dealing with battlefield results, border security and questions of national identity at the same time, in the days leading up to 15 August 2024.
