North Korean forces kill Russian troops as Putin loses ‘1,000 soldiers’ in past day

A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed a Russian ammunition depot near the village of Markine in Russian-occupied Donetsk region, a source in Ukraine‘s SBU state security service said on Monday.

The depot stored thousands of ammunition rounds for armoured personnel carriers and tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, mines and grenades, plus millions of rounds of ammunition for guns of various calibres, the source said.

The attack also destroyed the nearby fuel storage facility, according to the source.

As the full-scale war approaches its 34th month, Russia is inching forward in Ukraine‘s east with the most intense fighting taking place on the Kurakhove and Pokrovsk fronts in Donetsk region.

Ukraine relies on long-range drones to damage Russian strategic and military targets far beyond the front lines, including attacks on ammunition depots and oil facilities.

Ukraine has claimed that North Korean units fighting for Russia sustained losses of at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded around several villages on the front in Russia’s Kursk region over the weekend.

Ukraine‘s military spy agency reported the losses in a statement after President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday Russia was using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults in Kursk, a Russian region where Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion in August.

The statement is the first time Ukraine has reported North Korean losses of this scale and in some detail. It said the losses were recorded in the vicinity of the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka in the Kursk region.

It was not possible to independently verify the figures. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as “fake news”, but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.

“Due to the losses, the assault groups are being replenished with fresh personnel, in particular from the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army, to continue active combat operations in Kursk region,” the Ukrainian agency wrote, without providing evidence.

Two Russian tankers that spilled oil into the Kerch Strait after sustaining serious damage during a heavy storm on Sunday were carrying 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products at the time, the state Tass news agency reported.

How much of the fuel leaked is being determined, Tass said. It said the Volgoneft 212 was carrying roughly 4,900 tons of fuel oil at the time, and the Volgoneft 239 4,300 tons.

Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Monday that all 14 crew members from the Volgoneft 239 had been rescued. The vessel ran aground 80 metres from the shore near the port of Taman.

The Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from Moscow-annexed Crimea, is a key route for exports of Russian grain and fuel products.

The spill has the potential to be one of the largest environmental disasters to affect the region in recent years.

On Sunday, one crew member was killed after the Volgoneft 212 split in half with its bow sinking. Eleven others were taken to a local hospital.

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered the government to set up a working group to deal with the rescue operation and mitigate the impact of the spill, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Norway’s government has announced it will provide 2.7 billion crowns (£192 million) to strengthen the Ukrainian navy and help it deter Russian naval forces in the Black Sea.

“It is essential to protect the Ukrainian population and Ukrainian infrastructure from attacks by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet,” Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

“It is also important to protect exports by sea of grain and other products, which generate crucial revenues for Ukraine,” he added.

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.

The Ukrainian military said it downed 27 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Ukraine said Russia launched a total of 49 drones, out of which the air force shot down 27 and lost track of 19, likely due to electronic warfare.

Three drones remained in the Ukrainian air space as of this morning, it added.

Vladimir Putin has lost over 1,000 soldiers in the past day as Russia pushes fowards to capture ground in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s armed forces said.

It comes as Russian forces took control of the villages of Veselyi Hai and Pushkino in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said.

The ministry also said Russian forces had hit and destroyed four Ukrainian Patriot air defence systems.