Ukraine faces 50,000 troops in Russia’s Kursk region, says President Zelensky

The president of Ukraine Volodimir Zelensky assured that Russia deployed around 50,000 troops to Kursk the Russian region in which Ukrainian troops began cross-border military incursions on August 6, 2024.

This Monday, November 11, the president declared in a Telegram publication that Its forces “continue to contain” the “enemy group of nearly 50,000 soldiers” in the area .

It is good to remember that More than two years have passed since Russia began to invade Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive last August in Kursk was presented as a surprising episode both for the Kremlin and for Kyiv’s Western allies .

Not only because it reflected a change in strategy, but also because it was a the first such incursion into Russia by a foreign force since World War II .

Ukrainian authorities claimed at the time that their operation was necessary to prevent future cross-border attacks on its territory .

Since then, troops on both sides They clashed on the front lines in Ukraine and Kursk. .

While Russian soldiers They seek to advance from the points they have already been able to occupy in Ukraine and are also fighting for the Ukrainian army to withdraw from the region. from the south of the country.

However, The latter managed to retain control of hundreds of square kilometers, while seeking to thwart advances troops commanded by the Kremlin.

An American official assured cnn Sunday, a day before Zelensky raised the subject on Telegram, which Russia has assembled tens of thousands of troops to launch an assault on Ukrainian positions in Kursk. .

He specified that within these troops, North Korean troops are also included came to assist their Russian allies.

According to the manager, This offensive will take place in the coming days .

Previously, at the beginning of November, The Ukrainian president said that 11,000 North Korean troops were already present in the region. .

Despite reports, the Kremlin resisted the comments on the presence of troops from Kim Jong-un’s country on its territory.

Russian state media TASSreported Saturday thatRussian President Vladimir Putin signed a law ratifying the mutual defense treaty with North Korea .

The next day, North Korean state media confirmed that their supreme leader also reaffirmed this .

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022, Russia and North Korea strengthened ties .

The agreement that was ratified – and which was signed by the two leaders in June after a summit in Pyongyang – considers the commitment of both parties to come to the aid of the other in the event of an armed attack .

According to the rescue cnnit is estimated that North Korea has an army of 1.2 million soldiers. .

Nevertheless, most of them have no combat experience .

This is largely due to the fact that Pyongyang’s forces have not participated in large-scale conflicts since the Korean War which took place between June 1950 and July 1953.

A commander of the Ukrainian forces told the aforementioned media on Sunday that North Korean soldiers were already taking part in direct combat operations in Kursk .

He also clarified that they participated in defensive works in the Russian Belgorod region and occupied Ukrainian territories by Kremlin-led forces.

President Zelensky himself assured that Pyongyang’s troops in Kursk fought against their country’s .

Amid a scenario in which Russian troops continue to exert pressure to advance on the front lines and in which they send waves of drones almost daily against different cities, His forces launched a total of 145 of these elements on Saturday night. .

The Ukrainian authorities assured that 62 were shot down and 67 others were “lost” according to the international news agency P.A. .

We suppose that, with the latterthey probably hinted at electronic interference that caused it to veer off course of drones.

For its part, in the night between today and Sunday, Ukraine launched what was described as its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war in 2022 .

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Some 34 of these devices targeting the capital were shot down, while a total of 70 were intercepted in six regions. .

This offensive led to the temporary closure of three airports according to the rescue Deutsche Welle .

The particularity of this operation lies in the fact that attacks against Moscow are less frequent than those against kyiv which is usually the target of the Russian offensive.

From Ukraine They said their recent attacks were a response to Russian aggression on their territory since the invasion began. in February 2022.