Assessing the Kursk offensive with Mike Kofman

The Russia-Ukraine war has recently entered a new phase with the Ukrainian military’s offensive in Kursk, marking one of the most significant battlefield developments in more than a year. Pushing steadily into Russia, the Ukrainian armed forces have reportedly seized more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory, capturing critical infrastructure and leading thousands of civilians to flee their homes. While this offensive seems to be placing new pressure on Moscow’s resources that could potentially even have repercussions for Russian political stability, there are nonetheless major questions about Ukraine’s ability to hold this territory as well as the implications for other areas of the battlefront. To help us understand the motivations for this bold move by Ukraine and what it could mean for the future of the conflict, Mike Kofman joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Mike Kofman is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on the Russian military and Eurasian security issues.