Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief kept preparation of offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast secret as long as possible

The Economist reports that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing the operation in Kursk Oblast in Russia in secret from Ukraine’s Western allies.

Source: The Economist with reference to a source close to Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "General Syrsky kept his plans under wraps, sharing them only with a tight group of generals and security officials. He spoke to the president on a one-on-one basis, without his staff. The army’s intelligence did much of the reconnaissance, rather than leaving it to HUR, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, which was included only at a late stage."

Details: A source of the Economist states that Ukraine’s allies were also deliberately not informed about these plans as the West has disrupted two previous operations of Syrskyi – Russia found out about one of them, and there was an order to cancel the other one (the article does not specify what operations these are). When the West was informed about the operation after the fact, it didn’t object.

Reportedly, during the preparation for the operation in Kursk Oblast, Ukraine’s military command considered several options: strike on Bryansk Oblast, strike on Kursk Oblast, a combined attack on two regions at the same time, or an even larger-scale one.

The article states that the main goal of the operation was to drag Russian forces away from Donbas and create advantages for future negotiations.

The soldiers themselves told the Economist that they had started to suspect something big was happening in early August, when they were suddenly issued with equipment: new helmets with integrated headphones and new assault rifles. They did training exercises on mock-ups later understood to represent Russian villages.

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