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Zelensky warns Russia’s use of North Korean forces in Kursk will extend to other parts of war zone
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Russian soldiers have been killed by North Korean troops in friendly fire while fighting in Kursk, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said.
The HUR said a group of North Korean soldiers opened fire on and killed eight members of the Chechen Akhmat unit fighting for Russia.
The attack was the result of the language barrier between Russian and North Korean troops, which continues to be a “difficult obstacle” on the battlefield, according to the HUR.
It comes after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned a “significant number” of North Korean soldiers had joined forces with Russian troops to attack Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.
“Today, we already have preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults,” he said. “We have information suggesting their use could extend to other parts of the frontline.”
Ukrainian and Western officials warned earlier this year that over 10,000 North Korean troops had amassed in Kursk, ready to aid Russia’s attempt to oust Ukrainian forces in the region.
The first direct clashes between North Korean and Ukrainian troops in Kursk Oblast were reported in early November.
Russia has deployed North Korean soldiers in significant numbers for the first time to support its offensive in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president said North Korean troops are reportedly being used in assaults on Ukrainian forces defending an enclave in Russia’s Kursk region.
“Today, we already have preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults. A significant number of them,” Mr Zelensky said during his nightly wartime address.
My colleague Namita Singh has the full story:
Ukraine has accused Russia of deploying North Korean soldiers to the front lines in Kursk, marking a significant escalation in conflict
Russian forces took control of the villages of Veselyi Hai and Pushkino in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry also said Russian forces had hit and destroyed four Patriot air defence systems.
The battlefield reports could not be immediately verified.
Russian soldiers have been killed by North Korean troops in friendly fire while fighting in Kursk, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said.
The HUR said a group of North Korean soldiers opened fire on and killed eight members of the Chechen Akhmat unit fighting for Russia.
The attack was the result of the language barrier between Russian and North Korean troops, which continues to be a “difficult obstacle” on the battlefield, according to the HUR.
Ukraine has slammed Fifa for an “unacceptable error” after a map displayed during the 2026 World Cup draw appeared to exclude Crimea from the country’s territory.
The map, used to show nations that cannot be drawn to play against each other for geopolitical reasons, highlighted Ukraine but excluded Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of its territory.
Crimea has been under Russian occupation since 2014, though only a few countries recognise it as Russian territory.
“FIFA has not only acted against international law but has also supported Russian propaganda, war crimes, and the crime of aggression against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.
Moscow’s foreign intelligence chief said he has not been in contact with the CIA over Kyiv’s strikes with Western long-range weapons into Russia and Moscow’s use of its new missile in response, Russia’s RIA agency reported on Sunday.
“No, I have not been in contact,” Sergei Naryshkin told RIA in an interview when asked if he had talked to CIA Director William Burns in relation to Kyiv’s strikes into Russia or Russia firing its new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” into Ukraine.
Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones overnight, claimed Moscow this morning.
Thirteen of the drones were downed over the Black Sea and one each over the Russian border regions of Kursk and Belgorod, the defence ministry said in a post on its Telegram messaging channel.
Ukrainian air defences destroyed 56 out of 108 drones launched by Russia during its latest overnight strike, Kyiv’s military said on Sunday.
It added that another 49 were “locationally lost”, typically a result of electronic jamming.
Debris from the destroyed drones damaged an unspecified piece of infrastructure as well as apartment buildings and homes, the air force said.
Ukraine has replaced the commander overseeing its eastern Donetsk forces following significant Russian advances near the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, a military official announced on Saturday.
General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy has been appointed to lead the operational and tactical group, succeeding General Oleksandr Lutsenko. The leadership change follows mounting criticism of General Lutsenko for failing to prevent recent Russian progress in the region.
Russian troops have been reported within 3km of Pokrovsk, according to the Ukrainian mapping service DeepState. The city, located approximately 17km from the border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting on Ukraine’s eastern front in recent months.
Pokrovsk holds significant strategic value for Moscow. Its capture would mark a major setback for Ukraine, representing the most substantial territorial loss in months. The fall of the city would also escalate the challenges for Ukrainian forces, which are already struggling under immense pressure on the eastern front lines.
The heightened tensions come as Ukraine faces additional uncertainty over its future military aid from the US. Concerns have grown with the potential return of Donald Trump to the presidency, raising fears that Kyiv’s largest source of support could reduce or withdraw assistance entirely as the conflict nears its fourth year.
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has led to questions over Russia’s ability to sustain its military adventures abroad. Russia had supported Assad militarily for over a decade, building on longstanding ties between Moscow and Damascus.
But the rapid advance of anti-government forces this month saw Russia apparently powerless to influence the situation beyond a number of airstrikes (as always, apparently mostly delivered on civilian targets) in support of government forces.
That has inevitably led people to draw conclusions about Russia’s ability to project power overseas, and what it may mean for the course of the war in Ukraine.
The end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria has led to many asking questions about Russia’s ability to project power overseas, and what it may mean for the course of the war in Ukraine. Here, Keir Giles explains why we should be wary of any hasty conclusions
Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia said the ongoing war between the two countries will be “resolved in the next few months” as soon as the Republican takes office.
A retired US Army Lieutenant General, Keith Kellog told Fox Business: “The only person who can do this is President Donald Trump, and he will do it. They’re tired of killing each other out there. This is time.”
His remarks come as Russia prepares for Mr Trump to assume office.
“Russia is ready to study Trump’s proposals on Ukraine, but studying does not mean agreeing,” state news agency RIA Novosti posted to Telegram.
Last week, in a statement on Truth Social, Mr Trump wrote that “Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness”.
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