In early August, as Ukrainian forces burst across the Russian border on their way to capturing some 385 square miles of Russian territory in the Kursk region, the Kremlin maintained it had everything under control: state media reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin was competently organizing relief efforts for the region’s inhabitants and directing the army to crush the invaders. “The military says Kyiv has failed to achieve its goal of securing a foothold in the Russian region,” the state-run RT network reported a day after the invasion began.