Ukrainian forces are reportedly advancing deeper into Russia following a surprise offensive in the Kursk region, leaving Vladimir Putin scrambling to respond in a week of headline-grabbing troop gains from Kyiv.

Russia has launched an anti-terrorist operation in three of its border regions – the others in Bryansk and Belgorod – to stop Ukraine’s advance. Ukrainian forces are reportedly threatening to take over a town in the region that is more than 10 kilometers into Russian territory.

Ukraine Battle Map’s X-Account (formerly Twitter) said Kyiv could control up to 210 square miles of territory in Ukraine’s deepest advance since the war began, but this has not been independently verified. Newsweek has asked the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.

Kyiv has not commented directly on the operation, although President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia should “feel what it has done to Ukraine.” It gives Kyiv a boost after weeks of incremental Russian successes, dwindling Ukrainian equipment and troops, and concerns about future Western support.

Social media users were very concerned about Putin’s expression when he learned of the attack. On Friday, he called a meeting of his Security Council to discuss how to deal with his biggest military challenge since the uprising of the Wagner Group mercenaries led by their late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in June 2023.

“It has certainly been a good week for Ukraine, challenging some of the most pessimistic assessments,” said John Foreman, former British defence attaché in Moscow and Kyiv, Newsweek.

“The incursion will also boost Ukrainian morale. It has also shown that Russia is once again weak, that its much-vaunted intelligence services are incompetent and that Putin’s mismanagement has undermined state institutions, leading to some frantic crisis meetings about the response.”

In Kursk itself, footage has emerged showing the destruction of a huge Russian convoy in the village of Oktyabrskoye near Rylsk. It was presumably an attack by HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) missile systems supplied by the USA.

Ukrainian forces have reportedly captured several villages in northwestern Ukraine and are also threatening the regional town of Sudzha, which is home to a key gas facility owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom.

There are conflicting reports from Russian military bloggers who support the invasion about the scale of the Ukrainian operation. Russia, which has since sent reinforcements including tanks and missile launchers, says it is “continuing to repel” the incursion.

Foreman said that not much was known about the overall operational situation and that it was too early to judge the usefulness of the Ukrainian approach.

“Strategically, I remain concerned that the deployment of troops at Kursk potentially weakens Ukrainian defenses elsewhere along the long front line. However, if the incursion forces Russia to withdraw its own troops from Donbass to stop the breakthrough, it could both give Ukraine some breathing room and provide an opportunity to halt the very slow Russian advance.”

Ukraine is continuing its fight against Russia in other areas as well. The General Staff in Kiev announced that a Russian military airport in the Lipetsk region had been attacked. Guided bombs were damaged and detonations occurred.

In Ukraine itself, Ukrainian forces apparently attacked a Russian training ground in the southern region of Zaporizhia with American-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) missiles.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued its attacks on Russian naval targets. A Magura drone destroyed a Russian KS-701 Tunets (Tuna) patrol boat and damaged three other vessels near Chornomorske on the northwest coast of Crimea on Thursday, the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR said.