A Ukrainian strike on a Russian command put up in Kursk Oblast killed dozens of Russian and North Korean officers, President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the Related Press on Feb. 2.
"There was a powerful operation by our army — they hit their central command put up within the Kursk course. And so they misplaced key officers of Russia and North Korea," Zelensky mentioned in an interview.
The strike, allegedly performed by Ukraine's Missile and Artillery Forces on Jan. 31, focused the command put up of Russia's Kursk group of forces within the metropolis of Rylsk.
"It was our army goal, a good one. There was a missile assault from our aspect and numerous kinds of weapons; a fancy assault was launched in opposition to them," Zelensky added.
The president additionally claimed that Russia had deployed round 12,000 North Korean troops to Kursk Oblast, of whom greater than 4,000 "had been misplaced."
The Kyiv Unbiased couldn’t confirm the claims.
"They misplaced the fight functionality of this primary package deal of North Koreans. I can't name them anything as a result of it's a package deal — they don't know the place they're going, they usually're preventing in opposition to a rustic they've by no means been to," Zelensky mentioned.
Ukrainian forces launched a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast in early August 2024, allegedly seizing about 1,300 sq. kilometers (500 sq. miles) of Russian territory.
Whereas Ukraine has since then misplaced roughly half of that space, the preventing continues. Kyiv hopes to leverage its presence in Kursk Oblast in potential peace negotiations.
Final fall, North Korean troops had been deployed to the world to help Russian forces in countering the Ukrainian incursion.
North Korean troops haven’t been seen within the areas the place Ukraine's Particular Operations Forces are preventing for roughly three weeks, the unit's spokesperson, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, instructed the Kyiv Unbiased on Jan. 31.
The remark got here as undisclosed Ukrainian and U.S. officers instructed The New York Occasions that North Korean troops had been pulled from the entrance traces after struggling heavy casualties.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek