"All wars end with negotiations. It is not the soldiers in the trenches who decide when".
Arni joined the Ukrainian army in 2022 to fight for the survival of his country.
We ran into him 30 months later and now he cites a new motivation to fight. "Peace".
"No one likes war, we all want it to end," he says as he leans against a camouflaged truck.
The soldiers we meet near the Russian border want to end the Russian invasion on acceptable terms.
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This does not mean that they are not driven by the desire to survive in the first place, but it seems that they are aiming for the goal.
"For Ukraine, for our people, we will fight until the end," says Arni.
Until August 6, Ukraine had one goal - liberation. Complete deterrence of Russian troops to the borders as they were before the first invasion in 2014.
In the last year and a half, the opposite is happening, Russia is gradually eroding Ukrainian territory.
But then the "ol and" is withdrawn (all in) poker move, surprising everyone except the battle-hardened Ukrainian soldiers who carried it out: a counteroffensive inside Russia's Kursk region.
"It was undoubtedly a successful and bold move," says Serhii Kuzan, president of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Research Center.
Kiev constantly highlights the offensive, with countless photos of soldiers handing out aid while tearing down Russian flags.
"Also, the narrative is changing," says Alina Frolova, a security expert and former deputy defense minister of Ukraine.
"The situation in which we are losing territory step by step is not good. The strategic position of Ukraine has changed".
Despite comparisons to the first Russian invasion, Kiev says the occupation is not the goal.
What is the goal then? There is more than one.
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Buffer area
"One of the reasons for this attack is the better protection of the city of Sami," explains Kuzan and points out that it is often forgotten that the border is still the front line.
Since the beginning of the summer, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says that more than 2.000 strikes have been carried out on the Sumy region from the Kursk region alone, and that 250 glide bombs have been used.
For months, it was feared that Russian forces were preparing their own cross-border attack, and the defense of Ukraine will be easier if they are pushed back, believes Serhi Kuzan.
"The now conquered Russian city of Suja is of strategic importance. The Russians are already in a worse position because we control the access roads."
Russia not only had to react to Ukrainian moves on the battlefield, but its supply lines were also targeted.
Key roads were occupied and a strategically important bridge was demolished.
Which brings us to:
Redeployment of Russian forces
"The main reason for the Kursk offensive is to distract Russia from occupied Ukrainian territories," says Ivan Stupak, who worked for Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) between 2004 and 2015.
The good news for Ukraine is that this is exactly what is happening. The bad news is that the penetration of Russian forces, especially towards the city of Pokrovsk, is not abating.
"The Russian army is redeploying troops from different directions - from Kherson, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, for example," says Ivan.
He believes that around 10.000 soldiers are being redirected, mostly from other parts of Russia.
'exchange fund'
This is how Ukrainian President Zelensky described the capture of Russian soldiers.
Whenever Ukraine had momentum in the past, it captured more and consequently negotiated the release of Ukrainian soldiers much more easily.
The offensive in Kursk is no exception. Kiev says hundreds of Russian soldiers are now in captivity.
The published drone footage showed some of them being surrendered and taken to Ukraine.
"Moscow is actually offering to start negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war," says Kuzan.
"It is no longer up to us, with the help of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to ask Russia to hand over our prisoners."
Pressure
This is very important for Kyiv.
In the Kursk region, horror and anger were felt at the civilian level because of the Ukrainian attack on their homes.
It led to mass evacuations, calls for help and criticism of the authorities for their failure to prevent the attack.
On the political level, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly processed the events during a briefing in Moscow.
Of course, what happens at the military level is also important.
"The impact of the Ukrainian incursion can be of critical importance," concludes Alina Frolova.
"That's why using professional forces was a good decision," he adds.
Coins to negotiate in the future
If it does not keep the conquered Russian territories for a long time, but holds them long enough, Ukraine hopes to liberate its own territories.
But that's a big "if".
Russia is much bigger, so it suits them when the fighting slows down. For Ukraine, the surprise factor was often beneficial.
"We have no chance against Russia in a symmetrical war," says Alina Frolova.
"We have to take asymmetric moves," he adds.
Slowing down the penetration in the Kursk region may leave Ukraine facing difficult decisions.
But as long as things are moving, there are advantages, Kuzan believes.
"Progress of 1 to 3 kilometers per day is normal for replacing front units with spares," he says.
"The Russians in Donbas are advancing 400 meters a day," he adds.
"Our progress in Kursk is five times faster than a much larger army!"
But the problem for Kiev is that the Russians continue to advance in Ukraine.
However, we should not expect the Ukrainians to withdraw from their attacks in Russia anytime soon.
Now they are dedicated to it.
What about Vladimir Putin?
The Russian president initially called the offensive a "terrorist attack" and a "provocation", but later he almost did not comment on the events in public.
Despite fitting his narrative that the Russian invasion was a defensive war.
Perhaps he doesn't want the alarm felt by many in Kursk to spread, or to make it seem as if his army is out of control of the situation.
Also, as with the Kursk submarine disaster and the failed military coup last year, Vladimir Putin does not always act immediately to take the initiative.
Ukraine hopes it doesn't do that this time because it can't.
Additional reporting: Hana Hornous, Sofi Williams and Hana Tsiba.
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