Since early August, the Ukrainian military has occupied a salient inside Russia, in the Kursk Oblast. Now, the Russian military is trying to eradicate that salient by throwing thousands of Russian and North Korean troops at it.
Outnumbered Ukrainian troops are clinging to a section of Russian territory in hopes of using it as a bargaining chip in any future negotiations.
Russia, Ukraine and Kursk
Reclaiming Kursk is high on Moscow's agenda but comments by Valery Gerasimov failed to address the continuing presence of Ukrainian troops on Russian soil.
A relative majority of Ukrainians (40%) believe that the offensive operation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region has improved Kyiv’s chances of achieving its goals in peace negotiations.
Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SOF) have reported the elimination of three more North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast and seized their documents, which display signs of forgery. The documents are likely being used by Russia to conceal the presence of North Korean military personnel.
Six people were killed and ten more were hospitalized in the Friday strike, Kursk acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in Russia's Kursk region and increased pressure in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine's top army commander said on Tuesday.
North Korea has supplied Russia with thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine, intelligence officials said, but old footage that has resurfaced on social media does not show the funeral of a general deployed by Pyongyang to lead its troops in the ongoing invasion.
Explosions were also reported in Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih, and the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk. A missile was also shot down over Chernivtsi Oblast, located in the West of Ukraine along the border with Romania and Moldova, Governor Ruslan Zaparanyuk reported. There were no casualties.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched a massive missile barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure