Kursk incursion: how Ukraine turned the tables and struck back at Russia

Secrecy was key in attack that has opened a new front in the war and left Russians looking leaden-footed

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It was a critical and deliberate last-minute deployment on a previously unimportant part of the front. The Russians, having invaded in February 2022, had not anticipated that Ukraine would turn the tables and strike back with the first occupation of Russian territory since the second world war.

Had Moscow known that combat medics were quietly moving into the remote Sumy region, had the message gone up to the Kremlin, Russia might have been better prepared. The medics' presence would only be required if an outbreak of heavy fighting was anticipated, in an area where none had taken place for over two years.