A month after the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched their offensive in the Kursk region, the West is still struggling to understand Ukraine's ultimate goals for the vast swath of territory it holds in Russia's borderlands, Bloomberg reports. Despite Ukrainian forces' offensive successes in that direction, fears are growing among Western officials that those territories could be lost in the event of a major Russian counteroffensive.

According to sources, a number of Western countries supporting Ukraine remain uncertain about what goals Kyiv is pursuing in its operations on Russian territory. In particular, it is unclear what strategic or tactical tasks the Ukrainian command is setting for itself in the context of holding the occupied areas. The lack of clarity is causing concern in the West, especially given that Ukraine is not taking any obvious steps to strengthen its positions and is not preparing for long-term defense in the occupied territories.