Ukraine says the North Korean troops again on the front line

The President of Ukraine says the North Korean forces have returned to the front line in the Western Kursk area in Russia after reports that they had been withdrawn last month due to severe casualties.

In a video address on Friday, Volodimir Zelenski said, “New attacks “in the region, partially occupied by Ukraine.

He added that “hundreds of Russian and North Korean military staff were” destroyed “.

In January, Western officials told the BBC that they believed that at least 1,000 of the 11,000 soldiers sent from North Korea had been killed in the last three months. North Korea and Russia have not commented.

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Fighting led to major losses on both sides.

Last week, The Ukrainian special forces struggling in Kursk told the BBC that they had not seen any North Korean troops there for the last 21 days.

A spokesman said they were likely to have been removed after suffering severe combat losses.

The spokesman added that it only refers to areas where his powers fight, without giving any details about how long this front line is.

Recent reports attributed to South Korean intelligence suggest that the North Koreans’ soldiers are unprepared for modern wars and are particularly vulnerable to Ukrainian drones.

Military experts say reports on North Korea victims, if they continue with this pace, are unstable.

The soldiers were located after Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deepened bilateral ties in recent months, including signing a security and defense treaty.

Pyongyang’s help in Moscow now also extends to large quantities of ammunition and weapons.

It is also evident that the troops have been sent to strengthen Russia’s fighting forces, which have observed significant losses.

The Russian military has not publicly disclosed the victims of the battlefield since September 2022, when it is said that 5,937 soldiers were killed.

But the President of Ukraine said up to 350,000 Russian soldiers were killed this week, and other reports suggest that the number could be significantly more.

Zelenski put the military victims of Ukraine at 45,100 – but a number of military experts in Ukraine and the West believe that the losses are much higher.

The Ukrainian troops began a lightning offensive in Kursk six months ago, seizing more than 1000 square km (386 square meters) of Russian territory.

Since then, the Russian forces have been able to seize a significant part of the region.

However, Zelenski on Friday told the Reuters News Agency that Ukraine launched a new offensive in Kursk on Thursday, progressing 2.5 km (1.5 miles).

The Russian military said the Ukrainian attacks were repulsed.

The claims from the warring countries have not been verified independently.

In other key developments on Friday:

• The Russian military said his forces were taking over a key town of Toretsk in the area of ​​East Donetsk in Ukraine – but the Ukrainian military speaker said the battles continue in the industrial center
• US President Donald Trump has said “is likely to meet President Zelenski next week and I’m likely to talk to President Putin. I would like to see this war.”