Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war since has overwhelmingly been on their terms. But in August of 2024, something shifted. Ukraine began an incursion into Russia’s Kursk province, opposite their own Sumy province, engaging Russians on their own territory for the first time—and the first time in over 80 years that Russia had been occupied by a foreign power. Their goal was not to take over Russian territory to keep it, but to use it as leverage, in hopes of forcing Russia to divert resources from elsewhere on the front. But while the lightning incursion came as a shock to Russia, whose unpreparedness and slow response allowed the Ukrainians to gain significant territory in a short number of days, the Kursk offensive quickly stalled, as Russia began to regain territory in anticipation of their own counteroffensive.