The Kremlin claimed Saturday that it had driven Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region of Russia after months of bitter fighting, and for the first time acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops helping its forces in the area.
Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported the complete “liberation” of the Kursk Oblast to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian state media outlet TASS.
The Ukrainian government reportedly denied that Kursk had been recaptured, saying that while Kyiv’s forces were in a “difficult” position they had successfully resisted encirclement and pushed back several Russian ground assaults.
The Kremlin also expressed gratitude for North Korean troops deployed in the region to assist Russia’s efforts, with Gerasimov hailing their “fortitude and heroism,” according to Interfax. It’s the first time the Kremlin has confirmed the presence of North Korean troops, which could number as many as 11,000, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates.
“I want specially to note the participation of servicemen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in liberating border areas of the Kursk Region who in accordance with the Treaty on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries rendered considerable assistance in crushing the Ukrainian army’s combat group that had launched an incursion,” Gerasimov said, according to TASS.
Ukrainian forces began their assault on Kursk in August 2024, hoping to compel the Kremlin to reroute its troops from fierce fighting in the Sumy Oblast, as well as the Donbas region, which has been overrun since Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
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