Ukrainian forces are continuing to fight with Moscow's troops miles inside Russian territory in the Kursk region, according to reports by military bloggers amid conflicting accounts of the extent of Kyiv's progress in the surprise incursion. 

“In their first 24 to 48 hours in the operation, the Russian forces that were up against Ukrainians were border guards who are largely conscripts and probably weren't prepared to deal with the composition of the Ukrainian ground forces that came against them,” Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, tells Newsweek.

“I think both Ukrainians and the Russians are surprised by what has happened, in particular in the opportunities that this has offered to the Ukrainians in terms of going further in the Kursk region than they probably had anticipated when they started,” adds Murrett.

In the Newsweek article “Putin's Red Lines Keep Getting Breached,” Murrett says, “I'm less worried Putin's ‘red lines’ which shift constantly, and would say that the Ukrainian operations across the border in the Kursk region were largely preventative because of Russian activity right across the border.”

Murrett was also quoted in the Newsweek article, “Russia and China 'Deepening' Military Cooperation—Analyst.”