For a long time, I’ve caught myself returning in my mind to our Ukrainian offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast. There is one thought that keeps coming up and doesn’t let me go. Every time the Kursk operation is discussed, the conversation eventually comes down to the same question: "Was it worth it or not?"

A strange question. And not because it shouldn’t be asked. It should. But because almost everyone is looking for the answer in the same place. On the map. Time has passed. Ukraine no longer controls most of the territory it once held there. For many people, that is where the discussion ends. 

And every time, I find myself thinking that perhaps we have started judging every military operation as if its only purpose was to remain forever on the land that was taken. But war does not work that way. Not every offensive begins because of territory. And not every withdrawal means defeat.

When Ukrainian soldiers entered the Kursk region, no one seriously believed the goal was to seize Russian land. The purpose was different. To force Russia, at least once, to react instead of dictating the terms of the war.

And yes, that happened. More than one thousand square kilometers came under Ukrainian control. Almost one hundred settlements. Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers had to be urgently moved from other directions. Plans changed. Logistics changed. Resources were redistributed. 

And there was something else. Something that is mentioned much less often. The prisoners. Hundreds of Russian servicemen were captured during the operation. And it was because of them that many Ukrainian soldiers who had been waiting for months - and sometimes years - for an exchange were able to return home.

I think that when a mother hugs her son for the first time after such a long separation, she is hardly thinking about square kilometers. She is focused on one thing. That he is alive.

Did Ukraine pay a price for this operation? Yes. And a very high one. It would be wrong to pretend that there were no losses. But it would be just as wrong to forget everything else simply because the front line later changed. Maybe the most important result of the Kursk operation cannot be measured on a map at all. 

For years, Russians lived with the feeling that war existed somewhere far away. That it was happening to someone else. But the Kursk operation broke that feeling.