Kursk and the Battle of Wills

Military operations, including the Kursk Campaign, are about doing the right thing at the right time…and for the right reasons.

Ukrainian soldiers - the heart and soul of the army. Source: @DefenceU

Morality is not enough; the Profession of Arms requires Ethics. Pauline Shanks Kaurin

Today I had intended to publish a short article about the battle of wills that is ongoing in Kursk and the Donbas. The will of nations and their military institutions matters in wartime. The willingness and capacity to continue fighting demands good leadership, and importantly, the provision of purpose by national leaders. As Clausewitz wrote in Book 1, Chapter 1 of On War: “War is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.”

On one side, the Ukrainians are continuing to push forward in Kursk while also conducting a difficult defensive campaign in the Donbas. On the Russian side, the Russians are continuing to push on their main effort – the advance towards Pokrovsk – while seeking to redeploy forces from other areas to stem the advance of Ukrainian forces in Kursk.

Both sides are moving forward while at the same time sustaining terrible damage elsewhere. The remainder of this year, and possibly the trajectory of the war, will be determined by who blinks first and decides that focussing on the losses they are sustaining is more important than the gains they are making elsewhere. This is the ultimate expression of Clausewitz’s battle of wills.

I will return to this issue in the coming days. However, something else caught my eye today that, in the reporting about the Kursk operation, has been somewhat overlooked. In his video released in the past 24 hours on Twitter / X, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy used the following words:

It is important that Ukraine fights by the rules.

This is a very important idea in war generally. But it is also crucial for Ukraine. There are strategic, diplomatic and moral reasons for Ukraine to ‘fight by the rules’ and to have its organisations and individuals act ethically. Doing so has a direct impact on Ukraine’s military strategy for the war, and its ongoing operation in Kursk oblast.