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As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the US for the UN General Assembly and meetings with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump, Ukrainian paratroopers have reportedly breached another section of the Russian border in the Kursk region, marking their second successful breakthrough.
According to Zelenskyy, Russian President Vladimir Putin “fears Ukraine’s Kursk operation”.
Ukraine‘s offensive into Russia’s Kursk Oblast has claimed 1,300 square kilometres of territory, showcased its ability to conduct coordinated offensives using Western-supplied weapons, and became a strategic success in both conventional and information warfare.
The manoeuvre has debunked multiple Kremlin narratives, including “a war stalemate,” Putin’s “red lines,” the invincibility of Russian border defences, and the all-time Russian propaganda hit, “Ukrainian Nazis”.
It also undermined the imperial stereotype of Russia’s territorial immunity stealthily incepted into public consciousness.
“Russians have been able to control the strategic discourse, setting up for us new rules in a war which have never existed before, like, for example, when you invade another country the entire war should take place on the territory of that country,” Yale professor Tymothy Snyder said at US Helsinki Commission at its hearing on Russia’s imperial identity.
“No one said that before because it’s absurd and yet somehow… it has been accepted in the US as normal that this war should be fought on the Ukrainian territory.”
Exposing Putin’s ‘Red Lines’ as Bluffs
A key component of the Russian territorial immunity is the myth of “Russian vengeance” propagated by the Kremlin and the Russian government-funded media.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Putin and Russian state TV pundits have threatened the “collective West” with nuclear weapons.
On 24 February 2022, starting the full-scale invasion Putin stated: “No matter who tries to stand in our way or create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately… And the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”
Putin’s ally, Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president, is also known for his sabre-rattling and playing with red lines. In March 2024, he tweeted: “Macron has said, ‘there are no more red lines, there are no more limits’ in terms of supporting Ukraine… Then that means, Russia has no more red lines left for France.”
The delayed and limited Russian retaliation in the Kursk offensive has strengthened Kyiv’s argument that Putin’s “red lines” are mere scare tactics designed to deter Ukraine’s allies from supporting deeper strikes into Russian territory.
Russia’s meek response to the incursion has led experts to view these thresholds as exaggerated fears rather than genuine threats. “Next time you hear about yet another Russian red line, don’t panic. Chances are, it’s already been crossed—and no one in Moscow is quite sure where to draw the next one,” a report in the UK Defence Journal stated.
The Kursk offensive has also emboldened Ukraine’s calls for access to long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory.
“The most important red line has been crossed already. And that was when the Russians entered Ukraine,” said Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Breaching Russian Defences and Challenging the ‘Stalemate’ Narrative
One of the main goals of the Kursk offensive was to create a “buffer zone,” also referred to as a “sanitary zone” by Putin or “grey zone,” along the frontline—territory inaccessible to Russian artillery, meant to protect Ukrainian border areas from attacks.
The operation has revealed vulnerabilities in Russian defences and demystified the impenetrability of the Russian border.
By repeating the move and pushing into Russian soil on 23 September 2024, Ukraine has disrupted the Kremlin’s narrative of secure borders, not just forcing the Russian military to reconsider how they allocate resources along the extensive frontline. The incursion also brought the war home to Russian citizens.
The Kursk operation has also shattered the perception that the war had settled into a grinding stalemate—and for some the belief that the war in Ukraine was over.
Ukrainian military quickly penetrated Russian territory, established a foothold, and forced Russia to rethink its defensive strategies. The offensive has proven that the war is dynamic, with Ukraine actively shifting the battlefield balance, defying the narrative of attrition and slow progress.
Countering the ‘Nazi’ Propaganda Narrative
Ukraine’s conduct in Russian-controlled areas has debunked the Kremlin’s signature myth of “Ukrainian Nazis”.
Vadym Misnik, spokesman for the Ukrainian Siversk tactical-operational group, told Byline Times: “Our ancestors were fighting against the German fascism together. Now we are fighting against Russian fascism. We do not remove any of their monuments or memorial plaques dedicated to soldiers killed in 2022, during the full-scale aggression. It is their memory and we keep it.”
The only damages in the area are from the Russian attacks, according to Ukraine’s military administration in Kursk. For instance, the Russian military destroyed the Vladimir Lenin monument in the central square and a part of the WWII monument with an FPV drone. A building of the kindergarten and primary school was intact when Ukrainian forces took control of