Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces suffer ‘second day of record casualties’ as Kursk fight intensifies
North Korea ratified a major defence treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the reclusive country’s state media has reported, as the US, South Korea, and Ukraine said Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s war.
The treaty requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked. Some observers speculate the treaty’s ratification in both countries could signal North Korea could formally enter the Russia-Ukraine war soon.
On the war front, Ukraine’s forces are engaged against nearly 50,000 enemy troops in Russia’s Kursk region, president Volodymyr Zelensky warned.
Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, insisted yesterday that Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk operation was still successfully diverting Russian forces from mounting heavier attacks on the eastern front. He confirmed a New York Times report that Moscow had assembled some 50,000 troops in Kursk.
The NYT report, citing a US assessment, said Russia had built up the force in Kursk – where North Korean troops have reportedly been stationed in recent days – without needing to move troops from eastern Ukraine.
