Kursk offensive has taken the war into Russia and put Putin on the back foot — for now

How did Ukraine pull off dramatic advance, and what might happen next

 A Ukrainian military vehicle drives from the direction of the border with Russia carrying blindfolded men in Russian military uniforms, in the Sumy region, on August 13, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On August 6, 2024, Ukraine launched an offensive surprise into the Russian border region of Kursk capturing over two dozen towns and villages in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian territory since World War II. Picture: Getty Images

The Ukrainian advance into Russia’s Kursk oblast took almost everyone by surprise. Perhaps not the Russians stationed on the border, who reportedly tried to warn of a Ukrainian troop buildup, but the rest of us who watch the conflict closely did not think the Ukrainian army — under increasingly severe pressure in Donetsk oblast further south — had the spare manpower and kit to launch this operation.

So far it has been successful, advancing up to 30km in some directions and creating a salient inside Russia some 40km wide. An area of about 800 sq kms has been seized so far according to the Institute for the Study of War in the greatest loss of western Russian territory since April 1944. How have the Ukrainians done it, and what might happen next?