Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russian and North Korean troops suffered significant losses in Kursk, Zelensky says
Ukrainian and Western sources estimate about 11,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Kursk
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Your support makes all the difference.Russian and North Korean forces suffered heavy losses near the village of Makhnovka in Russia’s southern Kursk region, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address yesterday, calling the losses “significant.”
Ukrainian and Western sources estimate about 11,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces gained territory after a cross-border incursion in August.
Meanwhile, Russia called the drone strike that killed a Russian reporter in eastern Ukraine a “deliberate murder”.
Russian media outlet Izvestia said that a Ukrainian drone strike killed a reporter near the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described it as “another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities” of President Zelensky’s government “which openly resorts to terrorist methods to eliminate its ideological opponents”.
Data previously provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists counted at least 15 journalists killed since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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ICYMI: Zelensky says Trump can be decisive in helping stop Putin
President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky, facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Mr Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
The Ukrainian president also said a priority was to stabilise the frontline early in the new year. Mr Putin, he said, feared negotiations as they would be tantamount to a defeat for Russia.
“He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability apply to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” he said. “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” he said in a televised interview.
“His qualities are indeed there,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this.”
Russian forces attacking near Pokrovsk, Ukrainian military says
Russian forces launched attacks near the city of Pokrovsk, a key strategic road and rail hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday.
Capture of Pokrovsk could create serious problems for the Ukrainian army on the eastern front, and may allow Russia to advance its frontline to the west.
“The Pokrovsk direction remains the hottest and there the Russians attacked 34 times (in the past 24 hours) and tried to break through our defences south of Pokrovsk,” a spokesman for Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces told national television.
Russian forces seek to cut off supply routes to Ukraine’s troops, the military added. They send small groups of soldiers to settlements south of Pokrovsk to block supplies.
“They (Russians) don’t go directly into the city because it means heavy urban fighting. So they first try to bypass the city and interrupt the logistics chains,” Trehubov said.
Russia denounces drone strike that killed reporter as 'deliberate murder'
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, denounced the drone strike that killed a Russian reporter in eastern Ukraine as “deliberate murder”.
Ms Zakharova described it as “another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities” of president Volodymyr Zelensky’s government “which openly resorts to terrorist methods to eliminate its ideological opponents”.
Data previously provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists counted at least 15 journalists killed since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ten wounded in Russian attack in Ukraine's Sumy region
A Russian guided bomb attack yesterday wounded 10 people, including two children, in a village in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, near the Russian border, local authorities said.
The region borders Russia's Kursk region and has been regularly shelled by Russian forces for months.
Video posted by president Volodymyr Zelensky showed parts of a building in the village of Svesa reduced to rubble. Rescue teams ferried residents out of the building on stretchers.
"An entire block of the building, from the ground to the fifth floors was destroyed," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address. "Neighbouring houses were also damaged."
Mr Zelensky said guided bomb strikes hit two other villages in Sumy region and also neighbouring Kharkiv region.
Russian and North Korean troop suffered heavy losses in Kursk, Zelensky says
Russian and North Korean forces suffered heavy losses in fighting in Russia's southern Kursk region, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August.
In his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky quoted a report from top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border.
"In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops," he said. "This is significant."
He didn't provide any specific details. A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred troops.
Reporter killed in drone strike in eastern Ukraine, says Russian media
A Ukrainian drone strike killed a reporter near the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian media outlet Izvestia said on Saturday.
"The Ukrainian army launched a drone strike on a civilian car carrying Izvestia's freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov," the daily reported on its Telegram channel.
"The car was located far from the line of contact."
Izvestia said the car was travelling on a highway linking Donetsk, the Russian-held main town of Donetsk region, and the city of Horlivka to the north.
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline as 2025 begins?
By the time February 2025 arrives, marking three years since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the situation on the front line could look very different.
Currently, Russian forces are advancing in the east, slowly but surely, and they are shrinking Ukraine’s partial hold of the border region of Kursk.
That the Russians haven’t been more successful is a testament, above all else, to the resilience of Ukraine’s troops on the ground, many of whom have been fighting continuously for years. Dysfunction in the Russian military, with Mr Putin as its de facto commander-in-chief, is another.
But US president Joe Biden has sent the final military package of his tenure to Ukraine, ending the support (for now) of Kyiv’s most heavily-armed ally. US president-elect Donald Trump will soon re-enter the White House on the promise of ending the fighting altogether, even if that potentially means rewarding Mr Putin for his illegal land grab.
Tom Watling reports:
Ukraine-Russia war map 2025: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline?
Russian forces are advancing in the east, slowly but surely, and they are shrinking Ukraine’s partial hold of the border region of Kursk
Ukraine ends Russian gas pipeline to Europe – but how much will it cost Moscow?
Russian gas is no longer flowing to EU states through Ukraine following the expiration of a five-year deal, closing an energy route that has existed since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move means Russia can no longer “earn billions on our blood”.
His energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed on Wednesday morning that Kyiv had stopped the gas flows “in the interest of national security”.
“This is a historic event,” he wrote on the social media platform Telegram. “Russia is losing markets and will incur financial losses.”
The deal had allowed for Russian gas to travel through Ukraine’s pipeline networks into European countries, primarily Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
The Independent’s data correspondent Alicja Hagopian reports:
Ukraine ends Russian gas pipeline to Europe – but how much will it cost Moscow?
Russia will no longer transport gas to Europe via Ukraine’s pipelines, further limiting its ability to raise capital
ICYMI: Ukraine’s flagship brigade struggles amid mass desertions as 1,700 soldiers go AWOL
A Ukrainian brigade trained in France and equipped with advanced Western military hardware has been disbanded after mass desertions.
About 1,700 soldiers from the 155th Mechanised Brigade went absent without leave before the unit’s first deployment in eastern Ukraine, according to The Telegraph.
The brigade, a high-profile initiative announced by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and French president Emmanuel Macron last year, was meant to showcase Western support but reportedly suffered from inadequate training and equipment shortages.
Around 50 members of the unit, known as the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, went missing during training in France, and the problem grew worse as over 1,700 troops eventually went absent without leave before the unit’s first deployment in eastern Ukraine, the newspaper reported.
The unit’s initial battle in Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, led to significant losses, including tanks and armoured vehicles.Analysts have criticized Kyiv’s strategy of forming new brigades instead of reinforcing experienced units.
Zelensky says Trump is ‘strong and unpredictable’
President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky, facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Mr Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
The Ukrainian president also said a priority was to stabilise the frontline early in the new year. Mr Putin, he said, feared negotiations as they would be tantamount to a defeat for Russia.
“He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability apply to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” he said. “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” he said in a televised interview.
“His qualities are indeed there,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this.”
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