Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky says North Korea suffers losses as ‘last resort counteroffensive’ begins
Russian and North Korean forces suffered heavy losses in Russia’s southern Kursk region, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said, as a Kyiv’s forces begin a counter attack.
“In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address yesterday, calling the losses “significant.”
Ukrainian and Western sources estimate about 11,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces gained territory after a cross-border incursion in August.
Russian troops repelled two Ukrainian counter-attacks in Kursk on Sunday, the Russian defence ministry said according to state media.
A Russian military blogger has described Ukraine’s movements in Russia’s Kursk region as part of a “last resort counteroffensive”, according to the Telegraph.
The direction of the main counteroffensive is not yet clear and movements in Kursk may be a “diversionary” attack, the Rybar Telegram channel, another Russian military blog, said.
Ukrainian forces are possibly planning wider a counteroffensive on other areas of the frontline, such as in the Donetsk region, where Russia has steadily advanced for months.
The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation confirmed the Kursk attacks.
