The cross-border raid by Ukrainian forces its Kyiv’s largest in the two-and-a-half years of conflict after Moscow launched its all-out invasion in early 2022.
Moscow has deployed troops to the Kursk region after a Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory that has raised major questions for the Kremlin and handed Kyiv a major opportunity.
Russia has imposed a counterterrorism operation in three of its border regions—the others being in Bryansk and Belgorod—to thwart Ukraine's momentum.
The devastating surge into Kursk and several other Russian villages has been a “slap in the face” for a moody Putin as his flailing war continues to stutter.