DW’s correspondent in Ukraine, Nick Connolly, said Kiev had remained “secretive” about its ongoing operations in Kursk.

At the same time, “The Russian government side is trying to downplay most of what is happening.”

“A few days ago we were talking about Ukrainian forces 10 or 15 kilometers inside Russian territory from the border, and now there are reports and georeferenced images of Ukrainian military groups 30 kilometers inside Russian territory,” Conley said.

Connolly said there were reports that the Ukrainians were trying to reach the Kursk nuclear power plant, which would be very difficult for the Russians to dislodge if they could get there.

“They seem to have surprised the Russians… It has become very easy to bypass those Russian defenses, to basically overwhelm them.”

Connolly stressed that Ukrainian forces had succeeded in carrying out a largely successful campaign, even with limited resources, in a move likely to shake the Kremlin.

“With a relatively limited investment of people and resources, they have achieved a lot, and certainly on the political level, they have shown [Russian President] “Vladimir Putin has shown ordinary Russians that he is incapable of securing the borders.”

He expected this success to lead to a land swap, with Ukraine regaining some of its occupied territories.

Connolly said that allowing Western powers to use weapons supplied to Ukraine inside Russian territory was a “game changer” for the Ukrainian military.