Russia has used North Korean troops at the heart of an “intensive offensive” in its western Kursk region seeking to push out Ukrainian forces, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Tuesday.
Kyiv has been occupying part of the border region since August when it launched a shock cross-border incursion to seize Russian territory.
“For three days in a row, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using North Korean army units,” Syrsky said in an address to local officials.
Intelligence agencies in Ukraine, the United States, and South Korea have all said Pyongyang has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia to fight alongside its army.
“North Korean mercenaries have already suffered heavy losses. The Ukrainian defenders are steadfastly holding the defense, destroying enemy personnel and equipment,” Syrsky said, without providing further details.
Ukraine said Monday its forces had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean troops in Kursk. At least 10,000 North Korean forces have been deployed to help the Russian army, according to western estimates.
The reports of a fresh Russian counter-offensive in Kursk come with Moscow’s forces advancing in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s army early on Tuesday claimed to have seized another small village in the eastern Donetsk region, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the resource-rich hub of Kurakhove, which Moscow is also on the brink of capturing.
Syrsky said the “most difficult situation” is currently around Kurakhove and the mining city of Pokrovsk – two areas Russia is aiming to seize.
He said the “operational and strategic situation remains difficult” across the 1,170-kilometer (730-mile) front line, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s troops had seized “the strategic initiative” across the front.
