The kursk "offensive", the war of manoeuvre, & manager "escalation": An ananysis

This paper poses the central theme for researchers: What can military practitioners and strategic studies scholars learn about this military operation? The underlying strategic and political factors behind the (a) decision to launch the military operation? (b) in what way has the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried this out so far? However, two further factors need to be considered: (c) how this impacts the changing nature of the conflict, and (d) how the Russian Federation, and particularly President Putin’s leadership, responded. There has also been much debate about the concept of ‘managed escalation’, and the case study of the Kursk Offensive is one of ‘escalation’, within the context of the wider conflict. Did the Ukrainian Kursk Offensive, along with deep strikes, achieve the objectives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces? It is a testament to Ukraine’s military intelligence that this operation was carried out in the first place, in addition to how this has coincided with a calculated campaign of ‘deep surgical strikes’ of Ukrainian Drones into the Russian Federation, serving not just a strategic but also, a psychological imperative.