The situation at a glance: Zelensky speaks of high North Korean losses

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reported heavy losses by Russian units attempting to recapture the Kursk region. “In fighting today and yesterday in the vicinity of the village of Makhnovka in the Kursk region alone, the Russian army lost an infantry battalion of North Korean soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” Zelensky said in his evening video message. The information cannot be independently verified.

According to official information, a battalion of the Russian armed forces has a troop strength of up to 500 men.

In recent weeks, videos have emerged again and again that are said to show attempts by Russian units – sometimes reinforced by North Korean soldiers – to storm the Kursk area. You can see many destroyed Russian armored vehicles and killed soldiers. Military experts explain the seemingly hasty attack attempts as Moscow’s aim to gain as much ground as possible before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in order to have a good starting position in the expected negotiations.

Ukraine occupied part of Russia’s Kursk region last summer.

Two-year-old girl injured in Russian attack

In addition to successes, Zelensky also reported another heavy air attack on the Ukrainian border region of Sumy. Russian bombs destroyed an apartment building there. A two-year-old girl was among the seven injured, Zelensky said. He also said that the clean-up work in Chernihiv after a rocket strike the day before, in which 40 residential buildings were destroyed or damaged, was over.

In view of the ongoing attacks on civilian targets, he again asked Ukraine’s partners to strengthen anti-aircraft defenses. He announced that this will be discussed at the next meeting with Western allies, which is scheduled to take place next week at the US military base in Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Ukraine remains on the defensive

The situation on the battlefield remains difficult for Ukraine. Russian troops continue to attack despite the losses. In its evening situation report, the General Staff in Kiev spoke of almost 150 battles during the day, 40 of which were in the Pokrovsk area alone. This is the focus of the fighting after the Ukrainians recently had to give up control of Kurakhove, according to reports from the military blog “DeepState”.

According to Ukrainian media reports, the fighting for Pokrovsk itself, which is also considered a strategically important junction, could begin as early as next week after the Russian units have advanced to just outside the city limits.

Blinken: We supplied Ukraine with weapons before the war began

According to information from Washington, the fact that the Ukrainians are still holding their own on the battlefield almost three years after the start of the war is also thanks to the foresight of the US government. In view of a feared Russian attack on Ukraine, the USA had already supplied the country with weapons shortly before the start of the war in February 2022. “Because we saw it coming, we were able to ensure not only that not only we and allies and partners were prepared, but that Ukraine was prepared,” outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the New York Times “.

“We made sure that well before the Russian aggression happened, starting in September and again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons into Ukraine to make sure that they had what they needed to protect themselves to defend.”

Russian Foreign Office spokeswoman Maria Sakharova used Blinken’s statements to justify Russia’s war of aggression. The war, which she called a “special military operation,” was intended to demilitarize Ukraine, which had been armed for years by the United States and Great Britain, she claimed.

Moscow threatens Kyiv after allegedly repelling rocket attack

The Russian military says it has repelled a Ukrainian attack with long-range US missiles on the border region of Belgorod and is threatening a counterattack. All ATACMS missiles were shot down by air defense, the Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel. Moscow will respond accordingly to this attack. The ministry’s information could not initially be independently verified.

The ATACMS missiles are considered long-range weapons. In the past, Russia has threatened to respond to such attacks on its territory by firing hypersonic missiles at targets in Ukraine.