"Despite the fact that Putin was obviously extremely angry about the breakthrough in Kursk Oblast, he did not make emotional decisions, so we did not see the strategy of ‘quick, grab everyone and send them to retake Kursk’.”

I don’t know if this is just propaganda, an idiot, or the actual thinking behind the operation. Because if it is, then hinging your plan on having the enemy make dumb decisions is itself rather stupid.

Cope, meet seethe.

Even if Ukraine’s bet that the Kursk incursion would relieve pressure on the eastern front has not yet paid off, it could still lure Russia into expending forces in a counteroffensive. If negotiations beckoned, Putin would probably feel compelled to deprive Ukraine of its Kursk bargaining chip, Leviev said.