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Russian and North Korean troops suffer heavy loses in Kursk, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine says the Russian army suffered heavy losses.  (AP: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service)

In short: 

Ukraine says Russian and North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses in fighting in Russia's southern Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops.

What's next? 

Russia on Saturday vowed to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied missiles at the border region of Belgorod.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian and North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses in fighting in Russia's southern Kursk region. 

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 Zelenskyy quoted a report from top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, near 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," Mr Zelenskyy said. 

"This is significant."

The president provided no specific details. 

A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred troops.

Reuters could not independently verify the president's account.

Ukraine and Russia are fighting over a 'bargaining chip'. It could have implications for Donald Trump's peace plans

Photo shows A man on a bike rides through the street with ruins of buildings behind him

Russian and North Korean troops suffer heavy loses in Kursk, Zelenskyy says

Some 50,000 Russian troops have reportedly moved to a region held by Ukraine since August, with experts saying it is no coincidence that the renewed interest coincides with the US presidential race and the re-election of Donald Trump.

Mr Zelenskyy last week reported heavy North Korean losses in Kursk region, saying their forces were not being protected by the Russian forces they are fighting alongside.

He said North Koreans were taking extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and in some instances were being executed by their own forces.

In his latest remarks, Mr Zelenskyy also said "fierce battles" had raged along the entire 1,000km frontline, with the most difficult situation near the city of Pokrovsk.

Russian forces, he said, "continue to expend vast numbers of their own personnel in assaults".

A Ukrainian military spokesperson earlier said Pokrovsk remained the "hottest" frontline sector, with Russian troops launching fresh attacks near the town in an effort to bypass it from the south and cut off supply routes to Ukraine's troops.

The city, home to a mine that is the sole supplier of coking coal to Ukraine's once-giant steel industry, had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. 

Ukraine estimates that about 11,000 of them remain in the city. 

Russia says it downed US-made missiles

Russia on Saturday vowed to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the border region of Belgorod the previous day.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden authorised Kyiv to use the long-range weapons against Russia last year, in a move Moscow denounced as a grave escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.

Russian and North Korean troops suffer heavy loses in Kursk, Zelenskyy says

Russia accused Ukraine of firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the border region of Belgorod. (AP: John Hamilton/US Army )

"On January 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile strike against the Belgorod region using US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles," the Russian defence ministry said.

"These actions by the Kyiv regime, which is supported by Western curators, will be met with retaliation," it added, saying all the missiles were shot down.

Kyiv's use of the missile systems has infuriated the Kremlin, which has threatened to hit central Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to the strikes.

ATACMS missiles have a maximum range of 300 kilometres, according to publicly available data.

US president-elect Donald Trump said in an interview published last month he was "very vehemently" opposed to Ukraine using the arms, which he said were "escalating" the conflict.

Russian guided bomb attack on Sumy

A Russian guided-bomb attack on Saturday wounded 10 people, including two children, in a village in Ukraine's north-eastern 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 Zelenskyy showed parts of a building in the village of Svesa reduced to rubble.

Rescue teams ferried residents out of the building on stretchers.

Russian and North Korean troops suffer heavy loses in Kursk, Zelenskyy says

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian air strike in Sumy. (Reuters: State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

"An entire block of the building, from the ground to the fifth floors was destroyed," Mr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. 

"Neighbouring houses were also damaged."

Mr Zelenskyy said guided bomb strikes hit two other villages in Sumy region and also neighbouring Kharkiv region.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the events in Sumy.

Guided, or glide, bombs are conventional, often Soviet-era, weapons with satellite-aided navigation to extend their range and precision. They are often dropped from beyond the range of Ukrainian air defences.

Reuters

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