Last month, Ukraine launched its largest incursion into Russia since the full-scale war began in February 2022, when its military advanced into Russia’s western region of Kursk.

Ukrainian forces have since claimed to have captured dozens of Russian settlements.

Meanwhile, Russia’s forces have been moving forward slowly on the eastern front in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, particularly near the town of Pokrovsk.

On Saturday, CIA Director William Burns and the head of Britain’s MI6, Richard Moore, appeared together at an event in London organized by the British newspaper Financial Times.

In the unprecedented public meeting, where the heads of both intelligence agencies shared the stage for the first time, the two chiefs discussed a range of issues, including Ukraine’s ongoing offensive in Kursk.

Burns described the Kursk offensive as a “significant tactical achievement,” which has not only boosted Kyiv’s morale but also exposed Russia’s various vulnerabilities, and thus “raised questions  [...] across the Russian elite about where is this all headed.”

Moore called the Kursk operation “a typically audacious and bold move by the Ukrainians [...] to try and change the game,” though he cautioned that “it’s too early to say how long the Ukrainians will be able to hang on in there.”

World order under threat

The two intelligence chiefs also co-authored an op-ed published in the Financial Times before the event, which highlighted their joint efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

In the op-ed, they also addressed other global challenges, including the escalating tensions in the Middle East, the geopolitical ascendancy of China, and rapid technological change, all of which, according to them, suggest that the global order is “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War.”

“Successfully combating this risk is at the very foundation of our special relationship,” they emphasized.

Burns and Moore identified China as “the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.”