The first clash between Ukrainian fighters and North Korean soldiers was seen in the Kursk region this week.
Anonymous sources of Ukrainian intelligence confirmed this news to the Financial Times on November 5. The source did not reveal specific details such as where and when it happened, and what was the result.
“So far there is no talk of major clashes,” one anonymous source told the publication, indicating that the conflict “happened in a district of the Russian Federation, about 600 square kilometers of which is controlled by the Russian army.” One such area in Russia is the Kursk region, which Ukrainian troops entered from the Sumy region on August 6. Since then, they have maintained a significant foothold deep within enemy territory.
On November 4, Andrei Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center (CPD) of the Council of Security and National Defense of Ukraine, reported the alleged first clash between the North Korean and Ukrainian military through Telegram.
“The first group of soldiers from the People’s Republic of Korea has already come under fire in the Kursk region,” Kovalenko wrote, without specifying any other details.
Russian instructors are said to be teaching North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region how to use different types of combat drones.
“The Russians are training North Korean soldiers and officers for modern warfare. They will be used in battle. North Koreans in Russian military uniforms will be enrolled in Russian units in the Kursk region. They will learn the principles of using FPV (First Person View) drones and reconnaissance drones, including Lancets,” Kovalenko told Ukrainska Pravda.
The Main Military Intelligence Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims 12,000 North Korean soldiers have entered the territory of Kursk since October 23, among them 500 officers and three generals.
The upper house of Russia’s parliament has voted in favor of ratifying a treaty between Russia and North Korea which includes a mutual defense clause.
In response, South Korea is to supply Ukraine with weapons, Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol announced. North Korea’s involvement in the war presents a threat to the South, as it gives Pyongyang combat experience and sees them rewarded with sensitive military technology transfers, Yoon said.
Yoon also held a call with United States President-elect Donald Trump and discussed forging closer ties with the US across all areas of security and economics, sharing his concerns over North Korea’s deployment of troops backing Russia.
Here are other key battlefield developments as of Thursday, November 7:
• A Russian drone attack badly damaged an apartment in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district early on Thursday. No injuries have been reported.
• Air defense units destroyed 38 of 63 Russian drones launched overnight Tuesday, Ukraine’s air force said.
• Russian forces have captured two more settlements in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced, naming them as the villages of Maksymivka, just north of the town of Vuhledar, and Antonivka, near the town of Kurakhove, further north. Ukraine reported fighting around both villages in the eastern sector of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, saying its forces repelled two attacks near Maksymivka and a village near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region and did not acknowledge that either had fallen. The General Staff of Ukraine’s military also reported a “tense” situation around Kurakhove, with 39 Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions.
Ukraine hits Russian naval base in Dagestan for first time, source says
Ukraine’s military intelligence was behind a drone attack on the city of Kaspiysk in Russia’s Dagestan Republic, targeting a Russian naval base, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent on Nov. 6.
At least two vessels, missile ships Tatarstan and Dagestan, were damaged in the attack, and possibly also several small Project 21631 ships, sources said.
Dagestan authorities reported intercepting a drone attack over Kaspiysk, a port city at the Caspian Sea around 1,000 kilometers from the front line (600 miles), on the morning of November 6.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation center at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, also said on Telegram that a Russian naval base was hit.
“Russian Navy ships are stationed in Kaspiysk,” he said. The base is home to Russia’s Caspian Flotilla, as well as Russian Marines and Coastal Troops.
Sources said that the targeted fleet was involved in strikes against Ukraine, and the 177th Marine Regiment stationed there was deployed in combat in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
While Russian authorities claimed to have intercepted a single drone in the skies, a video shared on social media appears to show another drone hitting its target, resulting in a large explosion.
The incident took place roughly 15 kilometers from a local airport, the Mash news channel claimed, identifying the drone as a Ukrainian A-22 Flying Fox drone.
The nearby Makhachkala airport has suspended operations for an indefinite period due to the incident, local authorities said.
Zelensky calls for Trump to keep supporting Kyiv
Donald Trump claimed victory in the US presidential election on November 6, shortly before crossing the threshold of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.
Donald Trump is now likely to call Russia’s Vladimir Putin and tell him to “stop the war”, a former American diplomat has said.
The incoming US president is “going to make a phone call to Putin as quickly as possible and tell Putin that he needs to stop the war, that the fighting has to stop, and that there has to be peace,” Kurt Volker, former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations, said.
Trump’s return to the White House could spell uncertain times for Ukraine, as there are fears he might withdraw support for the besieged country and cut a deal with the Kremlin.
Trump made no mention of Russia’s war against Ukraine in his speech, but highlighted that the US had seen “no wars” during his first presidential term.
“We had no wars, for four years, we had no wars. Except we defeated ISIS,” Trump proclaimed. “They said ‘he will start a war.’ I’m not going to start a war; I’m going to stop the wars.”
Ukrainian war-time president Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated Trump on his win, and urged the Republican to keep supporting Kyiv against Putin’s invasion.
The current US administration, expecting a more frugal handling of Ukraine from Trump, is now rushing military aid worth $9bn to Kyiv before Joe Biden exits office in January.
“The administration plans to push forward… to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible” before Trump enters office, a senior Biden administration official said.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
