North Korean ‘missing’ news amidst heavy Russian casualties in Ukraine War

The North Korean military fighting against Ukraine has disappeared from the battlefield, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported this week.

NIS said on Tuesday, “Since the mid -January, there are no signs showing North Korean soldiers to North Korean soldiers who attached to the North Korean soldiers involved in the war in the Russian Cursk region.”

The estimated 11,000 North Korean people were deployed in Kursk last December, which helped Russia fight a Ukrainian countivation launched last August.

The NIS statement confirmed the recent report of The New York Times, which described the reason for their redistribution among the North Korean people.

Ukrainian President Volodimier Zelansky has said that more than 4,000 North Korean soldiers were injured or killed – about one -third of the duct. NIS put the figure at 3,000.

Ukrainian commanders at the ground have stated that the Russian forces used North Korean people for attacks and they were ordered to order to end their lives instead of ending their lives, or in their favor Shot.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the claims independently.

North Korean absence may be a temporary recurrence.

Zelansky told the Associated Press that he was aware that more than 25,000 additional North Korean soldiers were the routes for the Kursk.

Experts have also told Al Jazeera that there is a possibility of reinforcement of North Korean.

Russian soldiers are also suffering from high damage.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense had estimated Russian casualties at 48,240 last month-the second largest monthly casualties in about three years of the war, slightly behind December.

About one third of those damage, Russia began an intense battle to capture the Eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk.

“In January of this year, our soldiers neutralized over 15,000 invaders (in Pokerovsk),” Ukrainian commander-in-chief Olexander Sirski said on Saturday, “about 7,000 were killed.”

These sacrifices are being made for low returns for the study of the Think Tank in Washington.

Russia obtained 498 sq km (192 square mi) area in the war last month, ISW evaluated, compared to 593 sq km (229 sq mi) in December.

Decrease of about 100-class-cilometers (29-miles) in seized area between December 2024 and January 2025, coupled with a uniform monthly casualty rate, indicates that Russian armies obtain less regional regions Despite the same high level losses. Advance in the near period, ”said ISW.

ISW earlier estimated that it would take Russia alone in two more years of war to fulfill Donnetsk’s victory.

Ukraine’s challenges on the battlefield

Ukraine, also, suffers from lack of manpower and has stopped the efforts to build 12 new brigade, instead of using its reserves to recreate the damage within existing units.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine regularly discuss the loss of war. But this week, Zelansky said that Ukraine’s army had lost 45,100 soldiers on the battlefields.

The website of Ukranska Pravada (UP) said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s armed forces were preparing to filter 50,000 reservoirs in brigade, who were fighting on the lines of front to change the damage.

According to The New York Times, this number will promote front-line units in the fifth, in which a quarter of a million, Ukraine’s front-line soldiers were reported.

“We need to do this to launch the rotation mechanism,” an anonymous source said. “Resources which are currently trained in training centers are only enough for minimal repayment of units, not for full support of the combat component.”

Russia, also, is getting solitude for its manpower. It was trying to surround Pokrovsk to motivate its defenders to get out.

Victor Targubov, spokesperson of the Khortian Group of the Force of Forces, who fought in Pokarovsk, told a Telethon this week that the Russian strategy was to surround the city to escape an urban fight. “We are talking about covering the city, starting from South and going south -south – south, western, west, and so on,” he said.

Russian forces attempted large -scale mechanized maneuvers at the beginning of the war, but collided with a strong rescue.

ISW believed that Russia had a year ago confiscated a city in Donnetsk, Avdivka, its first successful surrounding its first successful surrounded.

Since then, ISW believes that it has tried to widen the pinner movements about 20-30 km (12–19 mi), and in the possession of AVVVA, simultaneously, coordinated, slow pinner strategy strategy The adoption strategy can be adopted.

For example, Russia claimed last week that by confiscating Dworchana, a city in Kharkiv is progressing towards surrounding Kupiansk, a claim that has not yet been borne by geolocated footage. At the southern end of the front, Russia was successful in covering and re -achieving Velika Novosilka last month.

War in the air

Russia continued bombing Ukrainian citizens in the last week, as during the war.

Zelansky said Russia launched 660 Shahd drones, about 50 missiles and 760 glide bombs in Ukraine during the week ended on Sunday.

The worst attack occurred overnight on Saturday.

General employees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that Russia launched a joint strike across the country, including 46 missiles and 123 Shahd Kamikes drones.

Zelansky said Ukraine’s aerial rescue destroyed or destroyed all of drones and many missiles, but a missile killed an apartment building in Poultwa, killing 14 people and injuring 22.

The missile demolished all the five -storey on one side of a residential building in which some 86 people lived.

Zelansky said in his evening address, “It was just a Russian missile, which caused so much pain, pain and disadvantage. This is why Ukraine – and real peace – guarantee is required. ,

Ukraine also worked on his campaign to disrupt Russian military production and energy sources.

On Friday, its drone hit a Lukoil refinery in Volgograd, causing it to get it. General employees described it as “one of the ten largest oil refineries in Russia”, which processes 6 percent of all crude oil produced in the country.

Clearly there were other goals, as the Russian Ministry of Defense said it dropped 49 drones in seven areas.

On Monday, Ukrainian drone again hit the Volgograde refinery, this time allegedly damaged its central processor, and also hit the Astrakhan gas condensate processing plant, which Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) said that in a year Can process 12bn tons, allegedly stopping production.

Ukraine also targets the Russian command bunkers and aerial rescue.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s southern forces destroyed a book-M3 air defense system and a Ukrainian missile hit a central command post in Kursk. “The enemy lost the leading officials of Russia and North Korea … I think we are talking about dozens of officers,” Zelancesi told AP.

Ukraine’s problematic colleague

Ukraine’s European colleagues continued to declare arms transfer and investment in Ukraine’s own arms industry.

On January 30, Sweden announced a new military expenditure of $ 1.2 billion for armaments and investment in Ukraine’s drone industry, making its total military contribution $ 5.6BN.

On Friday, Finland announced a $ 200bn in defense goods for Ukraine, which contributed to $ 2.5BN.

But the United States, whose military assistance has been unannounced by President Donald Trump since assuming posts last month, has now made his assistance conditional.

Trump Ukrainian lithium, uranium and other minerals in return want American military aid, they said on Monday.

Signing the executive orders at the White House, Trump said, “We want to make a deal with Ukraine, where they are going to secure what we are giving them to their rare earth and other things.”

Russia has seized about half of the estimated $ 26 trillion minerals in Ukraine, the Washington Post has reported.

Even under the Biden administration, when the military assistance was not conditional at repayment, it was often inadequate.

An investigation into a Reuters has found that the Biden administration delayed arms shipment in Ukraine last year, due to concerns when growing and partially Ukraine is actually received between the US Army Branches among the US Army Branches Due to confusion.

The average of the monthly shipment between April and September was $ 558m, found in the investigation, but shot up to $ 1.1BN a month after Trump won the election.

Even it did not represent an increase in assistance, the Reuters said, but matched the monthly aid given during the first two years of the war.

“As of November, about half of the total dollar amount was promised by the US in 2024, and only 30 percent of promised armored vehicles arrived in early December, according to two Congress colleagues, an American officer , And an MP gave information on the data, “Reuters wrote.

During this time, Most of the land that Ukraine had removed in a 2023 terrorist had lost most of it.