Ukraine-Russia war latest: North Koreans suffering mass casualties says US

Ukraine is facing an array of issues heading into 2025, underscored by the anxiety of what the re-election of Donald Trump could mean for the country’s future. Tom Watling speaks to politicians, military experts and aid workers to discover what next year could look like

Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralised by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of having gone in at all.

Battles are so intense that some Ukrainian commanders can’t evacuate the dead. Communication lags and poorly timed tactics have cost lives, and troops have little way to counterattack, seven frontline soldiers and commanders told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so they could discuss sensitive operations.

Since being caught unaware by the lightning Ukrainian incursion, Russia has amassed more than 50,000 troops in the region, including some from its ally North Korea. Precise numbers are hard to obtain, but Moscow’s counterattack has killed and wounded thousands and the overstretched Ukrainians have lost more then 40 per cent of the 984 sq km (380 sq miles) of Kursk they seized in August.

Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the US presidential race, off the back of promises to end the war in Eastern Europe in 24 hours – seemingly even if that means forcing Kyiv to cede territory to Russia – appears to spell the end of the West’s long-held policy of helping Ukraine to defeat Putin entirely. Negotiations with Russia, after years of silence, are back on the agenda.

This is causing significant stress in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. As Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian opposition leader, puts it: “The world needs to understand how crucial it is not to end the war on any idea of negotiating with Russia.”

In the two years since its formation, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade – called “Khartiya” – has gained a reputation not only for prowess in battle but also for its culture of respect and innovative approach to technology.

Khartiya helped to halt Russian forces who launched a surprise incursion last May that threatened to overwhelm Kharkiv, from where many of its original members come.

The brigade was deployed to confront the Russian incursion around the village of Lyptsi, north of Ukraine’s second-largest city, last June; the forested area has since been a pivotal battleground.

China’s president Xi Jinping will visit Russia in 2025, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency quoted Moscow’s ambassador to Beijing as saying.

“As for concrete bilateral events, I can say that the appropriate plans are actively being drawn up,” Ambassador Igor Morgulov told RIA yesterday.

“What can be said that is no secret, in terms of priority, is that the chairman of the People’s Republic of China is expected in Russia next year.”

At a regular press conference, China’s foreign ministry did not confirm the visit, but reiterated that the two countries maintained close contacts at all levels.

Russian president Vladimir Putin visited China in February 2022, proclaiming a “no limits” partnership days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. He was in Beijing again last May, after his re-election by a landslide, welcoming a “new era” of relations focusing on opposition to US policy.

Russia, the US and China are all undertaking major modernisations of their nuclear weapons just as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) of the Cold War era between the Soviet Union and the US is starting to fall apart.

South Korea’s spy agency said that a North Korean soldier who was captured alive in Ukraine has died from his injuries, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Yonhap earlier reported yesterday that the agency had confirmed that a North Korean soldier dispatched to fight for Russia had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of two eastern Ukrainian villages, Ivanivka in the Donetsk region, and Zahryzove in the Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported.

The ministry also claimed it had downed four British-made Storm Shadow missiles in the past week.