Kursk incursion boosts Ukrainian morale after grim year

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian service members ride an Armoured Personnel Carrier, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine August 11, 2024. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) - For Kyiv-area resident Olha Pavlovska, who huddles with her neighbours every week to discuss the often grim news from the front, Ukraine's shock incursion into Russia's Kursk region this month offered a rare moment of hope.

"This was a very brave and important step ... for keeping up morale in society," said Pavlovska, 51, speaking outside St Michael's Cathedral in the centre of Kyiv.