Two months into Ukraine's offensive in Russia's Kursk region, questions over the long-term strategy are growing as Russian troops continue their steady advance. One of the offensive's main aims, Kyiv said, was to pull Moscow's forces from eastern Ukraine, but, according to Oleksandr, deployed on the Donetsk front line, "we didn't feel any significant changes here". While Oleksander believes "it's very good we pushed the enemy over to their side," the subsequent shelling of Ukrainian border areas is "a very painful topic." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES