Ukraine took Russia and Vladimir Putin by surprise in early August when Kyiv’s forces launched a daring incursion into Kursk, a large southwestern region of Russia.
The humiliating incursion prompted a mass evacuation of Russian civilians and the loss of 1,300 square kilometers of territory.
In response, President Putin ordered the recapture of Ukrainian-held territories in the Kursk region by 1st of October. However, this deadline has now passed and there are no signs of Ukranian forces leaving Kursk anytime soon.
The missed deadline is a blow to the officials in the Kremlin. Military bloggers in Russia took to Telegram to claim that the deadline had been moved to mid-October.
In early September, Russia finally launched a counter-offensive to the Ukrainian incursion but the country has failed to land a breakthrough.
Last week, on September 27, Aleksei Dyumin, a top-level Putin advisor, insisted the Russian counter-offensive would soon deliver results.
He said: “Soon all that territory (in Kursk region) will be completely liberated. The General Staff has a plan for that.”
By some measures, the Russian situation in Kursk is deteriorating, with Ukrainian forces going on the offensive to capture more Russian territory.
Around 30 Ukrainian combat brigades are still deployed in Russia, as the incursion approaches its two-month mark.
On Tuesday, the day Ukrainian forces were meant to be cleared from the region, Kyiv launched a new offensive to seize more territory in the Glushkovo district, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank
Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly deployed up to 40,000 troops to the Kursk region to deal with the humiliating crisis, with thousands of these troops redirected from the frontline in Ukraine.
It is thought that many of these troops have been cut off from supply routes after Ukraine blew up key bridges and rail routes around the Kursk region.
The situation in the Kursk region raised concerns among ordinary Russians as the war hit home. This is exacerbated by anger among desperate Russians that the country is to spend more than 40 percent of its total budget on defence and security – more than the money allocated for social welfare and education combined.
80-year-old pensioner Irina told Agence France-Presse in Moscow on Tuesday that the plan to hike defence spending next year “is an outrage”.
She said: “We need to end this war, and spending the budget on war is a crime.”
Another Irina, 70, complained her pension was only 25,000 rubles (£198) a month, adding: “There is not enough for anything at all. Not for treatment, not for anything.
“It’s pennies. People are unprotected. It’s a shame and a disgrace that the country has no money to treat its own children.”
Another pensioner, Elena, 68, told AFP: “The population of the country does not live so well. I am generally against military action of any kind, in any country, in ours, and in general the whole world.”