War in Ukraine: meeting in the Kremlin, North Korean soldiers in Kursk, strikes in Kharkiv… update on the situation

Zelensky says 11,000 North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region

Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that 11,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed in the Russian region of Kursk to support the Kremlin army, which is trying to expel Ukrainian forces from this territory bordering Ukraine.

“There are already 11,000 in the Kursk region. We see an increase in the number of North Koreans but no increase in the reaction of our partners” Western countries, lamented the Ukrainian president in his daily address.

Putin meets North Korean foreign minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting Monday in Moscow with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, as concern grows in Western ranks over a military rapprochement between Russia and North Korea.

Vladimir Putin welcomed Choe Son-hui to the Kremlin with a handshake that lasted a minute, according to a video of the meeting. The North Korean minister, traveling to Russia for the second time in six weeks, transmitted the “sincere, warm and fraternal greetings” of Kim Jong-un, on the occasion of the Day of Unity of the Russian People.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia, including up to 8,000 to the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian army carried out an incursion into month of August. Russia has not confirmed the presence of North Korean forces on its territory.

Choe Son-hui said last week that North Korea would support Russia until it wins the war in Ukraine, during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Russian strikes injure 13 people in Kharkiv

At least 13 people were injured overnight from Sunday to Monday in a series of Russian strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city located in the northeast of the country, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office said.

The city of Kharkiv and its region, bordering Russia, have been regularly bombarded by Moscow since the start of the invasion in February 2022, and these strikes have intensified in recent months.

“Russian armed forces carried out massive airstrikes on Kharkiv and its suburbs” in several attacks, the Attorney General's Office said on Telegram. According to him, 13 people were injured, including four police officers.

AFP journalists on site saw a supermarket whose facade was blown away by the explosions, as well as craters on the ground. According to the prosecution, FAB-250 debris was found at the scene of the strikes. These devastating gliding aerial bombs are used massively by Russia on the front.

Ukraine also announced that its air defenses shot down 50 Iranian-designed Russian explosive drones overnight in nine regions of the country, including over the capital, kyiv, and that a Russian cruise missile hit the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.

For months, Ukrainian authorities have been asking their Western allies to provide them with more air defense systems to repel Russian attacks. In October, Russia targeted Ukraine almost daily with waves of explosive drones.