Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv’s surprise new Kursk attack has Putin’s forces ‘worried’ amid fierce fighting
Russia has lost ‘up to a battalion’ of North Korean and its own forces in past 48 hours, says Zelensky
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukraine has launched a surprise counterattack in the Russian border region of Kursk, causing concern among Vladimir Putin’s forces.
According to war trackers, Ukrainian troops launched a second day of multiple attacks on Sunday on the eastern flank of what they already control in Kursk, after partially capturing the region last August.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US based think tank mapping the frontline, said Ukraine had made advances into the southern outskirts of the village of Berdin. It is to the northeast of the city of Sudzha, the most significant area held by Ukraine over the last five months.
Russian military bloggers, who, though ultimately under the Kremlin’s jurisdiction, tend to write more openly about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, claimed there was some concern about these latest attacks.
“The morning in the Kursk region is starting off worryingly again. It is obvious that yesterday’s failure will not stop the enemy and he will try to impose his will on us again today,” one blogger, Yuri Podolyaka, posted on Telegram.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia and North Korea were suffering heavy losses in the battles in Kursk.
Zelensky says Russian and North Korean troops suffered significant losses in Kursk
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3,800 North Korean troops killed or injured in Kursk, says Zelensky
North Korea has suffered nearly 4,000 casualties in its fighting against Ukrainian troops in Kursk, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“North Korea... 12,000 have arrived [in the Russian Federation to join the war against Ukraine]. As of today, 3,800 have been killed or wounded,” he said in an interview.
“They can bring 30,000-40,000 more. Or maybe 500 [thousand]. They can bring many people. Because they have an autocracy,” he said.
In his previously shared data on 23 December, Mr Zelensky had said the number of North Korean soldiers killed and wounded in action in Russia’s Kursk oblast exceeds 3,000.
Four Russian airports reopen after drone risk
Four Russian airports reopened on Sunday morning after suspending flights to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft, aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said.
Airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Izhevsk and Perm - all east of Moscow - halted flights temporarily on Sunday morning.
Rosaviatsia did not specify a reason for the pause in flights, but airports have previously closed due to the risk of Ukrainian drone activity.
All restrictions were lifted by 11am, the watchdog said.
Zelensky warns ‘Putin will destroy Europe’ if US exits Nato
Volodymyr Zelensky has cautioned that any decision by Trump to exit Nato would weaken the military alliance and embolden Russian president Vladimir Putin in Europe.
The Ukrainian president said it was up to the US to determine Nato’s future. “I’m simply saying that if it does (quit the alliance), Putin will destroy Europe,” Mr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader said he needed to sit down with Mr Trump to determine a course of action to halt the Kremlin and that Europe’s governments also needed to have a voice in that process before Kyiv could sit down for talks with the Russian side.
He also made the case that Mr Putin was not interested in serious negotiations to end the war, and that the Kremlin leader would have to be compelled to stop and agree to a lasting peace.
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
Zelensky says Trump can be the first world leader to land in Kyiv airport
US president-elect Donald Trump can be the first world leader to fly to Ukraine and land in the currently shut Kyiv airport, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since the February 2022 Russian invasion, and commercial air travel across Ukraine remains suspended.
Stating that he is looking forward to the reopening of Kyiv Airport, Mr Zelensky said: “Maybe we will open it, but only, and you must understand, if the war is over. There must be sustainable peace – and air defence systems, to be honest.”
“But there will be a moment… I think that the war will end and President Trump may be the first leader to travel here by airplane. I think it would be symbolic,” he told American podcaster Lex Fridman.
Mr Trump, the Ukrainian president added, had indicated when they spoke late last year that there would be an official Ukrainian visit to the United States soon after he takes office.
Ukraine will seek a boost in air defences at Germany meeting, says Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will again call on allies to boost Ukraine’s air defences at this week’s meeting in Germany, as US president-elect Donald Trump takes over later this month with a vow to end the almost three-year war quickly.
Mr Zelensky said that dozens of partner countries will participate in the meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday, “including those who can help boost our capabilities not only to defend against missiles but also against guided bombs and Russian aviation”.
“We will discuss this with them and continue to persuade them,” he said in his nightly address on Saturday. “The task remains unchanged: strengthening our air defence.”
Ukraine will ask allies to boost its air defenses at a meeting in Germany, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will again call on allies to boost its air defenses at this week’s meeting in Germany as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes over later this month with a vow to end the war quickly
Russian forces take control of eastern village
Russian forces have taken control of the village of Nadiya in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agencies cite Moscow’s defence ministry as saying on Saturday.
The battlefield report has not been independently verified.
Ukraine launches fresh offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, Moscow says
Ukraine’s forces have launched a fresh offensive in Russia’s Kursk region yesterday, the Russian defence ministry said.
It claimed its forces pushed back Ukrainian troops, but some reports from Russian military bloggers indicated that Moscow’s forces faced significant pressure.
A ministry statement said Ukrainian forces attacked about 9am local time (6am GMT) near the village of Berdin with two tanks, a mine-clearing vehicle and 12 armoured combat vehicles with paratroopers. Two Ukrainian attacks were repelled, it said.
The attack was confirmed by Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly video address, who said Russia and North Korea suffered heavy losses.
“In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” he said. “This is significant.”
Mr Zelensky said last month that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August, dealing a blow to Russia’s prestige and forcing it to deploy some of its troops from eastern Ukraine.
The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamic of the war, and military analysts say Ukraine has lost around 40 per cent of the land it initially captured.
IAEA reports loud blasts near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported hearing loud blasts near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant yesterday, coinciding with reports of a drone attack on the plant’s training center, the director general of the agency said.
The agency has not yet been able to confirm any impact, said Rafael Mariano Grossi.
“The IAEA is aware of reports of an alleged attack by a drone at the ZNPP training centre today, just outside of the site perimeter,” Mr Grossi said in a statement.
“Reports state that there were no casualties and no impact on any NPP equipment.”
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