The situation at a glance: Kyiv: Russia is increasingly relying on North Korean soldiers

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian military is now using North Korean soldiers in attacks in its own border area of ​​Kursk. “The losses in this category are also significant,” said Zelensky in the evening video message. He didn’t give any numbers. Zelenskyj accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of deliberately expanding the war against Ukraine and ignoring calls from China and Brazil to do everything possible to de-escalate.

The first reports of North Korean soldiers being sent to Russia emerged in October. At the beginning of November, Ukraine reported for the first time that these soldiers were involved in combat. According to Zelenskyj, the North Koreans are now largely integrated into Russian units and could soon appear on other sectors of the front.

Heavy Russian losses in the Kursk region

Ukrainian troops captured parts of the western Russian Kursk region in a surprise counterattack in August. For the Kremlin, which always wanted to fix the “realities on the ground” – i.e. its own conquests in Ukraine – as a prerequisite for peace negotiations, the expulsion of Ukrainians from Kursk is therefore a top priority. According to military circles, this should happen before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump at the end of January in order to ensure a good negotiating position.

However, according to observers, the serious attacks in the fall led to high losses. Numerous videos of columns of armored vehicles being shot down are circulating online. Most recently, Russian military bloggers reported on the storming of a town in which North Korean soldiers were also involved. Ukraine still holds a bridgehead of around 800 square kilometers in the Kursk region.

Heavy fighting along the entire front

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, there were 55 clashes in the Kursk region alone during the day. Despite the onset of winter weather, fighting increased again along the entire front. The evening situation report mentions a total of 274 battles – 84 more than the day before.

In addition to the section in front of Pokrovsk, which had been heavily contested for weeks, Russian troops surprisingly also activated their attacks further north on the border between the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russian troops made 55 advances in the Siversk area, and 39 of the battles were still ongoing, the General Staff reported.

Russia’s ex-president Medvedev hints at further annexations

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the possibility of further territorial acquisitions in Ukraine at a party conference of the Kremlin party United Russia. It is necessary to develop the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions (annexed by Moscow), he demanded. “By the way, this experience can be helpful if other new, but very close to us, regions appear in our country,” which is quite possible, said Medvedev. As leader of the United Russia party and deputy head of the National Security Council, he is still influential in Russia.

The Kremlin, which started the war in 2022 under the pretext of protecting the Russian-speaking civilian population in Donbass, has so far only partially conquered the four regions but is demanding that Kiev cede them as a precondition for peace talks. Moscow also repeatedly threatens further annexations if Ukraine does not accept the demand.