the essential
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday, December 14 during his daily address that North Korean troops fighting for Russia would have carried out offensive actions in the part of the Russian Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army.
Fighting continues in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech on Telegram on Saturday December 14 in which he spoke of the now proven presence of North Korean troops. Fighting for Russia, they are said to have carried out offensive actions in the part of the Russian Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army.
Nearly a month after the arrival of more than 10,000 troops from Pyongyang following a defense agreement between North Korea and Russia, the alliance between the two powers continues. “There is preliminary information indicating that the Russians have started using soldiers from North Korea in assaults, in a notable quantity,” the head of state added in his video on his social networks.
In the Kursk region, Ukraine has controlled part of the territory since last August, which kyiv wants to use as a bargaining chip to recover the Ukrainian territories illegally occupied by Russia.
North Korean troops 'already suffering notable losses'
In his speech, Volodymyr Zelensky clarified that according to him, North Korean troops are “already suffering notable losses”. He also accused Moscow of taking the war to “another stage.”
Preliminary data indicates that Russia has begun using a significant number of North Korean soldiers in its assaults. These troops are being integrated into combined units and deployed in operations within the Kursk region. For now, their involvement is limited to this area, but… pic.twitter.com/7vBp4VAJlR
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1867963438179533169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As a reminder, Ukraine warned that Russia had assembled 50,000 soldiers, several thousand of them sent by Pyongyang, to regain control of areas of the Kursk region occupied by the Ukrainian army since a surprise offensive early August.
For its part, kyiv continues its strikes on Russian territory on military targets in an attempt to slow down the Russian army's supply chain. Ukraine claimed to have bombed an oil site in the Russian region of Orel overnight from Friday to Saturday, sparking a fire, with local authorities confirming a “massive drone attack”.
