'All a blur' Ukrainian troops relive secret Kursk operation

On a recent morning deep in Ukrainianoccupied Russia, three soldiers from a Ukrainian special operations team jumped into their car - the back windscreen missing after being smashed out the previous day by explosives dropped from a Russian drone - and sped away in the direction of Ukraine.

- Shaun Walker

Six hours later, they would be in Kyiv, together with a precious cargo of documents stashed in boxes piled on the back seat, the fruits of a four-day mission into enemy territory for the trio. The documents included Russian interior ministry papers and military orders, seized from official buildings in Sudzha, the town at the heart of Ukraine's surprise Kursk operation, and from abandoned Russian trenches nearby.

"At the time it was all a blur, it's only later when you come out that you realise where you've just been and what you've been doing," said Artem, one of the three, talking at a roadside stop just hours after leaving Russian territory.

Ukraine's incursion into Russia, now in its fourth week, was shocking in its audacity, and has laid down an unexpected challenge to the Kremlin. Suddenly, it is Russian flags that are being pulled down from administrative buildings, Russian civilians who are taking shelter as soldiers of a foreign army patrols their streets, and Russia that is scrambling to prove it has control of its borders.

Even as Ukrainian troops come under pressure on other parts of the frontline, the dash into Russia has provided a much-needed morale boost inside Ukraine, after months of relentlessly bleak news.

"They're in a desperate David versus Goliath battle and this appeals to their rebellious spirit," said one western diplomat in Kyiv, adding that the Kursk operation had boosted the mood among the political elite immeasurably in recent weeks.

Part of the initial excitement came from sheer surprise. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his top military commander discussed the plans in private and just a few people were brought into the circle. "Based on the experience of this war so far, the fewer people know about an operation, the more successful it will be," said Mykhailo Podolyak, a key Zelenskiy aide.