Deception and a gamble: How Ukrainian troops invaded Russia

Executed in secrecy, bold move by Kyiv to turn tide of war surprised even closest allies

Last week, Ukraine launched an audacious military offensive, planned and executed in secrecy, with the aim of upending the dynamics of a war it has appeared to be losing, town by town, as Russian troops ground forward in the east.

The operation surprised even Ukraine's closest allies, including the United States, and has pushed the limits of how Western military equipment would be permitted to be used inside Russian territory.

Mostly on the defensive since a failed counter-offensive in 2023, Ukraine has pushed 1km into Russia along a 40km front and taken dozens of Russian soldiers as prisoners, analysts and Russian officials say. The governor of Russia's Kursk region said on Aug 12 that Ukraine controls 28 towns and villages there. More than 132,000 people have been evacuated from nearby areas, Russian officials said.

"Russia brought war to others, and now it is coming home," President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in his Aug 12 address.

This offensive is a major gamble, especially since Russia dominates much of the front line in Ukraine and has made significant inroads in the east. If Ukrainian troops are able to hold territory, they could stretch the capacity of Russian troops, deliver a major embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin and get a bargaining chip for any peace negotiations.

But if Russia manages to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk and simultaneously move forward in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian military leaders could be blamed for giving the Russians an opening to gain more ground.

Ukrainian officials have remained tight-lipped about the mission, and military analysts who spend their days tracking the war said they were surprised.

"This is a good example of how a modern successful operation requires extreme operational security measures and deception," said Mr Pasi Paroinen, an analyst from the Black Bird Group, a Finlandbased organisation that analyses battlefield footage.