During the course of the offensive, Ukraine successfully occupied more than 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory. In an apparent retaliation for this slight, Russia launched a relentless barrage of missiles and drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. According to Wojcik, however, interpreting the Russian aerial onslaught as revenge may be stretching the truth. <br><br> He said: “This cross-border attack by the Ukrainians and significant terrain seized would make Putin angry. But, you know, Putin is [...] ten feet tall in the war. He’s not. And he has a limited amount of assets, too.” <br><br> As the retired officer explains, such massive attacks need to be coordinated and require planning well ahead. As such the attacks that followed the Ukrainian offensive were likely planned before it took place, and are part of a strategy to terrorize civilians and destroy critical infrastructure ahead of winter. <br><br> So even though the Kursk region offensive is significant not only as a purely military endeavor but also due to a breakthrough Soviet victory in the area during World War II, and is indeed “a slap in the face of Putin,” the Russian leader, “just like in previous winters, wants to hurt the Ukrainian people as much as possible, and that’s why he's going to start attacking more and more the civilian infrastructure and try to bring Ukraine to its knees.”