Robert Ghement / EPA
O Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Zelenskyy says more than 3,000 North Koreans have been killed or injured; South Korea says there were just over a thousand. Meanwhile, Germany confirms the delivery of one of the largest arms packages to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this Monday that more than 3000 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Russian border region of Kursk.
“According to initial information, the number of North Korean soldiers killed or injured in the Kursk region has already exceeded 3,000,” said Zelenskyy, in a message on the social network X.
These numbers far exceed the estimates of the General Staff of the South Korean Army, which reported on the same day that more than 1,100 soldiers North Koreans have been killed or injured while fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia.
More troops (and drones)
Faced with Russian invasion for nearly three years, Ukraine launched an in early August, the first ground offensive on Russian territory since World War II. Several thousand North Korean troops have flown into Russia in recent weeks to support Russian forces, according to Westerners.
Zelenskyy this Monday corroborated Seoul’s statements about the likely supply of new North Korean troops and weapons to Russia. “There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian Army,” warned, promising “tangible answers” from Kiev.
The South Korean Army General Staff also said he had observed preparations that led to the belief that North Korea was preparing to send new troops to Russia, as reinforcements or to help those already fighting.
South Korean intelligence believes that the North Korea “is producing and delivering drones” to Russia.
According to Ukraine, the Russian Army launched “intense offensive operations in the Kursk region in mid-December, actively using North Korean Army units”, which have already “suffered heavy losses”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his annual press conference on December 19, admitted that he could not specify when his Army would be able to repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, but he expressed confidence in the victory of the forces controlled by Moscow.
Germany delivers one of the largest arms packages to Ukraine
Germany confirmed the supply to Ukraine of a number of weapons and military equipment, including 15 tanques Leopard 1 A5, 30 mine-resistant armored vehicles e 52 thousand 155 mm artillery shells.
The delivery of weapons made this one of Germany’s largest military assistance packages since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported, citing the online list of weapons and military equipment that the German government updated this Monday.
The package also included a sistema IRIS-T SLM and one IRIS-T SLS with missiles (six systems were delivered in total), the delivery of which was previously confirmed by country leaders, as well as two “Patriot” air defense system launcherstwo airborne radars and two Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gunswith 65,000 cartridges.
They were also given a self-propelled howitzer PzH 2000five remotely controlled demining systems and an unspecified amount of ammunition for the Leopard 2 and Leopard 1 tanks, as well as various drones, machine guns, sniper rifles and other types of weapons, equipment and ammunition.
In total, the Federal Republic of Germany has granted or undertaken to grant to date 28 billion euros of military aid to Ukraine, according to the government.
According to a parliamentary source cited by the AFP agency, confirming what was reported in the press, the Government of Olaf Scholz, which this month, did not foresee “any additional aid” to the four billion euros included in next year’s Budget for military aid to Ukraine. Berlin “assumes” that funds using frozen Russian assets will be available from 2025 and plans to halve military aid to Ukraine.
