Ukraine’s military intelligence services say North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses on the battlefield

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s Kursk region and are facing logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks, Ukraine’s military intelligence services said Thursday.

The intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. He said North Korean troops also faced supply problems and even lack of drinking water.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed and wounded in the fighting in the Kursk region. It marked Ukraine’s first significant estimate of North Korean casualties weeks after Kiev announced that North Korea he had sent between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers to Russia to help her in war for almost 3 years.

The casualty disclosure came as the Biden administration pressed to send as much military aid as possible to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August, dealing a significant blow to Russia’s prestige and forcing it to send some of its troops out of eastern Ukraine, where it is pressing a slow offensive.

The Russian army managed to recover some territory in the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, but was unable to completely dislodge them.

At the same time, Russia tried to break Ukraine’s resistance with waves of cruise missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s electricity grid and other infrastructure.

The latest attack on Christmas morning involved 78 missiles and 106 drones, which hit electrical installations, the Ukrainian air force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones and jammed another 52 drones.

On Thursday, Russia attacked Ukraine with 31 exploding drones. Twenty were shot down and another 11 missed their target due to jamming, the Ukrainian air force said.

As part of the daily barrage, Russian forces also hit a central market in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, with a drone, injuring eight people, according to local authorities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday that Russia could strike Ukraine again with the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile which was first used in a November 21 strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Speaking to reporters, Putin said Russia only had a few Oreshnik missiles, but added that it would not hesitate to use them on Ukraine.

“We are in no rush to use them, because these are powerful weapons for certain tasks,” he said. “But we wouldn’t rule out using them today or tomorrow if necessary.”

Putin said Russia had launched mass production of the new weapon and reaffirmed a plan to deploy some of the Oreshnik missiles to Russia’s neighbor and ally Belarus. Belarus’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, told reporters Thursday that his country could host 10 or more.

Ukraine retaliated with drone strikes of its own. Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications said the military struck a factory in Kamensk-Shakhtynsky, in Russia’s southern Rostov region, that produces ballistic missile propellants.

“This strike is part of a comprehensive campaign to weaken the capabilities of the Russian armed forces to carry out terrorist attacks against Ukrainian civilians,” it said in a statement.