Near the Russian border, Ukrainians are delighted about the Kursk attack

The road from the Ukrainian city of Sumy to the Russian border gave just a foretaste of the fighting 20 miles ahead. We passed tanks on transporters, armoured vehicles, and occasionally an olive-green ambulance with flashing lights speeding the Ukrainian wounded away from the battlefield.

In dusty half-deserted villages, stray dogs roamed and a few locals still moved around on Soviet-era bicycles. But mostly we saw 4x4s emblazoned with the white triangle that is the mark of troops taking part in Ukraine’s attack on the Russian region of Kursk.

It is a little over a week since Kyiv’s units – among them some of the most battle-hardened in this war-torn country – smashed through the Russian border just south of the small town of Sudzha and fanned out, eventually seizing several hundred square kilometres of land.