Overview
- Ukraine’s General Staff reported heavy combat with 237 engagements on 11 August and 185 on 12 August, saying the fiercest fighting occurred on the Pokrovsk and Sloviansk axes and that troops repelled dozens of Russian attacks.
- Ukrainian officials said their forces conducted a combined strike on the port of Novorossiysk on the night of 12 August that damaged four Russian warships and hit port and radar facilities, and Russian local authorities declared an emergency and reported civilian casualties.
- The Security Service of Ukraine said it uncovered and detained multiple FSB-linked informants who passed targeting data to Russia, and courts have handed long prison terms to agents, including a 15-year sentence for an operative convicted of arson and plotting an assassination.
- Ukraine’s human-rights ombudsman reported 375 verified returns of bodies from Russian captivity and documented widespread torture and mistreatment of prisoners, while officials warned of worsening humanitarian conditions in occupied Herson-area communities and urged evacuations where possible.
- President Zelensky warned Ukraine faces a critical shortfall of interceptor missiles for Patriot systems and asked the United States for a small share of its stockpile to protect energy and civilian infrastructure through the autumn and winter, a shortfall that has already led military officials to limit public detail on ballistic threats.