At least fifteen people were killed by Russia with missiles and drones

Ukraine’s War on War and the Future: From World War II to War on the Korean Peninsula – Interview with the 225th Separate Assault Brigade

Russia has now regained control of nearly all of Kursk. As ceasefire efforts stall, Ukraine’s defense intelligence has already warned that Russia could deploy North Korean soldiers in a new ground offensive this summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that Russia is amassing 50,000 troops along the border with Sumy. Several Ukrainian villages have been captured by Russia, the region’s governor said.

SUMY, Ukraine — During more than three years of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, the front line has also served as a kind of vicious, real-time classroom.

North Korean troops’ progress — especially in drone warfare — has potential implications not only for Russia’s war on Ukraine but also peace on the Korean Peninsula.

“They went from using World War II tactics to managing on the battlefield with drones,” Capt. Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 225th Separate Assault Brigade, told NPR. They learned very quickly.

The spokesman for the defense intelligence of Ukraine told NPR that North Korea could send over a hundred thousand additional troops to fight against the Russians.

Russia is currently giving technical guidance to North Korea for SA-22 surface to air missile systems, as well as electronic warfare equipment, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency.

Several Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the battle in Kursk spoke to NPR about their experiences. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers interviewed for the story by NPR are being identified for security reasons by their first name or military call sign.

He noticed that despite the large group of soldiers, they were still able to move together in open fields. The soldiers appeared fit, quick and maneuvered quickly.

The Russian units would leave immediately, but the North Koreans wouldn’t give up. “They would go straight ahead, without any cover, straight through the field. They wouldn’t even hide if there was artillery fire somewhere close by. They wouldn’t hide from us when we flew our drones.

He mentioned a Ukrainian bomber drone nicknamed “Baba Yaga,” after a supernatural witch. He said the Russian soldiers are afraid of the larger and louder drones.

Because the North Koreans moved in big groups at first, Andriy said they were easy targets for artillery, “and if some of them survived, it was easier for FPV drones to find them.”

The soldiers wrapped themselves in Mylar ponchos at night to avoid being detected by the Ukrainian thermal monitoring equipment, according to Volodymyr, who leads a battalion in the 61st brigade.

He was young and in good shape, which made us unable to catch him. Our 50-year-old soldiers tried to follow him after he scaled the fence, but by the time they climbed down he was gone.

Even though he was injured, the soldiers saw him running with his backpack and equipment. The soldier blew himself up when he realized that the Ukrainian troops were closing in, Volodymyr said.

Over the course of months, the Ukrainian military tried to capture a North Korean soldier so they could prove to Western allies that there was more to the fight than met the eye.

Cha, the Seoul-based security analyst, says they make this choice out of concern for their families back home. Pyongyang views captured soldiers as traitors.

Source: North Koreans fighting for Russia against Ukraine have grown skilled in drone warfare

The War Between North Korea and the Kremlin: The Heroic Efforts of Putin and Russia in the Continuum

“Our medic immediately provided him with help and bandaged his leg and arm,” Bulat said. “The soldier also has a shrapnel wound to his cheek. Our medic bandaged that as well.

Some North Korean soldiers were killed during a battle and their belongings were collected by Ukrainian soldiers. They included Russian military ID cards, where names were written in Russian but signed by the soldiers in Korean, as well as outdated cell phones, SIM cards and first-aid instructions issued by Russia but written in Korean.

There were also notebooks, which NPR has viewed and confirmed as authentic, that served as diaries. One of them had handwritten passages from a speech that Kim Jong Un gave to military officers last November and a “monthly life review” from a soldier who had admitted to stealing Russian goods. Instructions on how to spot and destroy drones and how to stay out of gunfire are included in the diaries. “One person among three lure it out,” one soldier wrote. The other two destroy the drone with an aim shot if the person stops.

“We instructed our soldiers to avoid direct battles with North Korean troops,” he said. “We planted mines, and our plan was that if they started an assault, they might fall into our traps.”

Moscow and theocratic regime did not confirm that North Koreans were inKursk. Zelenskyy had spent months offering warnings about North Korea supplying Russia with both weapons and soldiers.

“The world does almost nothing to counter the criminal collaboration between Russia and North Korea,” he said in his evening video address on December 23.

Russia’s chief of staff claimed in late April that Russia had pushed Ukrainian soldiers out of the entire area of Kursk. Pyongyang also confirmed the North Korean troops were there, with an official statement praising their “heroic feats.” Russia’s Putin followed suit. Several North Korean soldiers were even on Red Square for Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, shaking hands with the Kremlin leader.

“We will remember the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, on par with the Russians brother in arms,” Putin said in a statement.

He says that it now can claim that it is assisting a friend in the war and not undeserving of it.

He said North Korea could cite a bilateral treaty the two countries signed during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024, which includes a pact for immediate military assistance if either country faces armed aggression.

But Cha expects that Pyongyang won’t agree to send its troops to Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine unless it gets something in return from the Kremlin, “potentially advanced nuclear weapons manufacturing.”

The military intelligence chief of the Ukranian army told The War Zone that North Korean workers could be lured into signing contracts with the Russian military.

Tetiana Burianova and Polina Lytvynova contributed reporting from Sumy. Anthony, Se Eun, and others contributed to the reporting from Moscow and Seoul.

The Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine: A massive attack on residential buildings by U.S. drones and air defenses in the wake of the Zelenskyy terrorist attack

Zelenskyy wrote on social media that the attacks were pure terrorism. “And the whole world, the USA and Europe must finally react the way a civilized society reacts to terrorists.”

The Trump administration’s efforts to start peace negotiations have failed so far. Russia has stepped up attacks on cities in Ukrainian territory instead of agreeing to an unconditional ceasefire to pave the way for peace talks.

KYIV, Ukraine — One of the largest Russian attacks in months killed at least 15 people, mostly in Ukraine’s capital, injuring nearly 100 and severely damaging several apartment buildings. Rescue workers are digging through the rubble for survivors.

There were videos and photos posted by the Ukrainians that showed part of the high-rise collapsed into rubble. Emergency workers are trying to pull survivors from the ruins.

At least a dozen sites were struck, many of them residential buildings, including a direct hit by a ballistic missile on a nine-story apartment building, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

Russia has been sending swarms of drones to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, and then following them up with missiles which are harder to shoot down. The residents of Kyiv heard loud detonations as the air defense units shot down the aerial weapons.

Other parts of Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Odesa in the south, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Zhytomyr in the west and Chernihiv in the north.