Ukraine says it kept its plans for the Kursk offensive secret even from the Pentagon. Here's why.

• Zelenskyy said that he kept the Kursk offensive under wraps even from allied nations.
• The Ukrainian president pushed back on Western doubts about unconstrained Ukrainian assaults.
• Analysts say he may have also been mindful of past leaks of Ukrainian plans.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a defiant message to Ukraine's allies on Monday about why the Kursk offensive was kept under wraps, even from them.

Zelenskyy spoke as the incursion entered its third week, saying that Ukraine controlled 91 settlements and almost 500 square miles of territory in the western Russian region.