North Korean soldiers have been “brought in again” to fight at the frontline in the Kursk region after reports that foreign soldiers were withdrawn following their mounting losses, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In his nightly video address yesterday, Mr Zelensky said: “There have been new assaults in the Kursk operation areas … the Russian army and North Korean soldiers have been brought in again.
”He said a “significant number” of opposing forces have been eliminated, adding that “we’re talking hundreds of Russian and North Korean servicemen”.
It comes as Ukraine launched a new assault inside Russia’s Kursk oblast, expanding its incursion into Russian territory by as much as three miles.
Kyiv’s new incursion came on the six-month anniversary of its first attack inside Kursk, with one Russian military blogger describing it as coming “like a bolt from the blue”.
The incursion was also reported by the Russian defence ministry, which said Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles had launched several waves of attacks near the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.
Next week, Donald Trump is likely to meet Mr Zelensky to discuss Ukraine’s war to repel Russian invaders.
Trump says he will ‘probably’ meet Zelensky and speak with Putin
US president Trump said he will “probably” meet with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky next week and may also speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr Trump was asked whether he’d have JD Vance meet with Mr Zelensky next week while the vice president travels to France and Germany.
“I will probably be meeting with President Zelensky next week and I’ll probably be talking with President Putin,” Mr Trump replied.
“I’d like to see that war end.”Asked where he’d meet with Mr Zelensky, Mr Trump said it “could be Washington — well I’m not going there”.
He didn’t offer details on plans to speak with Mr Putin.
Shweta Sharma8 February 2025 03:50
Zelensky says hundreds of North Korean and Russia troops return to Kursk frontline
North Korean soldiers have been “brought in again” to fight at the frontline in Kursk region after reports that foreign soldiers were withdrawn after suffering losses.
“There have been new assaults in the Kursk operation areas … the Russian army and North Korean soldiers have been brought in again,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Friday.
He said a “significant number” of opponent troops “have been eliminated”, adding that “we’re talking hundreds of Russian and North Korean servicemen”.
It come as Ukraine and South Korean intelligence said North Korean troops appear to have withdrawn from fighting after mounting losses.
Shweta Sharma8 February 2025 03:13
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
Winged explosives weighing up to 1,500 kilograms – and nicknamed the ‘building destroyer’ – have had a devastating impact wherever they have been used, writes Tom Watling. Kyiv is battling them as best it can but needs Western allies to step up and provide more weapons, air defences and ammunition
Tom Watling8 February 2025 03:00
Russia claims it captured strategic coal-mining city of Toretsk as Ukraine denies
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on Friday that it has taken control of the strategic coal-mining city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine. However, Ukraine’s military denied the city had been captured and reported heavy fighting in and around it.
Russia calls the city, which had a pre-war population of around 30,000 people, by its Soviet-era name of Dzerzhinsk, and says Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where it is located, is now part of Russia, a claim Kyiv rejects as absurd.
Russian forces, after initially failing to advance on the capital Kyiv after its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, are concentrating on capturing Donbas, made up of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Toretsk has been one of the focal points of the advance along with other logistical hubs like Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka to the northwest and Pokrovsk further west.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military, in a late evening statement, said Russian forces had launched 10 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Toretsk sector.
“The occupiers’ main efforts in attacks were concentrated near the city of Toretsk,” it said. “Ukrainian servicemen repelled all enemy attacks.”
Shweta Sharma8 February 2025 02:55
We were told we were off to the seaside – but then kidnapped by Russia
Russia told Ukrainians they were visiting the seaside – but they were kidnapped
In a new four-article series, The Independent reveals the details of Bel Trew’s special investigation into the desperate plight of hundreds – potentially thousands – of people with disabilities caught up in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The most vulnerable of the vulnerable, abandoned and kidnapped into Russia
Tom Watling8 February 2025 02:00
Human shields: The horrors those with disabilities face in Putin’s war
Used as human shields and starved: The horrors Ukrainians with disabilities face
In the final part of our series on the plight of people with disabilities caught up in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bel Trew speaks to a man who had only the use of one limb, his arm, about the terrible treatment Ukrainians are subjected to in Russian-occupied territory. He was returned to Kyiv and his family, but would later die
Tom Watling8 February 2025 01:00
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