The intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy losses on North Korean units. She added that North Korean troops were also facing supply problems and even shortages of drinking water.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed and wounded in fighting in the Kursk region.
This is Ukraine’s first significant estimate of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help in its long-running war. almost three years.
The revelation of the casualties comes as Joe Biden’s administration pushes to send as much military aid as possible to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August, dealing a significant blow to Russia’s prestige and forcing it to deploy some of its troops in eastern Ukraine, where they were waging a slow offensive .
The Russian army was able to retake part of the territory of the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, but failed to completely dislodge them.
At the same time, Russia has sought to break Ukraine’s resistance by launching waves of cruise missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s power grid and other infrastructure.
The latest attack, on Christmas morning, involved 78 missiles and 106 drones, hitting electrical installations, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones as well as blocking 52 other drones.
Russia attacked Ukraine on Thursday with 31 explosive drones. Twenty were shot down and 11 others failed to reach their targets due to jamming, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
As part of this daily bombardment, Russian forces also struck with a drone a central market in Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring eight people, according to local authorities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Thursday that Russia could strike Ukraine again with the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile, which was first used Nov. 21 in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Speaking to journalists, Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia only has a few Oreshnik missiles, but added that it would not hesitate to use them against Ukraine.
“We are in no hurry to use them, because they are powerful weapons intended for certain tasks,” he said. But we do not rule out their use today or tomorrow if necessary.”
Mr. Putin claimed that Russia had started mass production of the new weapon and reaffirmed its plan to deploy some Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, Russia’s neighbor and ally. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko argued Thursday that his country could accommodate 10 or more.
Ukraine responded with drone strikes of its own. The army struck a factory in Kamensk-Shakhtynsky, Rostov region, southern Russia, which produces propellant for ballistic missiles, according to the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications.
“This strike is part of a broader campaign aimed at weakening the capabilities of the Russian armed forces to carry out terrorist attacks against Ukrainian civilians,” he said in a statement.
