North Korea Heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine
According to the General Staff in Kiev, the area around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has once again become the scene of heavy fighting. According to the situation report published in Kiev in the evening, Russian troops launched a total of 50 assaults against the defense lines during the course of the day. Russia had lost 376 soldiers over the course of the day, including 184 dead. The figures could not be independently verified.
13.01.2025, 04:09
SDA
The "Financial Times" reported, citing Ukrainian military sources, that the Russian troops had switched to a new tactic around the Pokrovsk junction. According to the report, the Russian troops are attempting to bypass the city, which is now heavily fortified. The Russian units advancing from the south are now targeting positions in the west of the city in order to cut Pokrovsk off from supplies as far as possible.
"They know that they will lose many soldiers if they attack Pokrovsk directly, so they have changed their strategy and are now trying to attack and bypass the city from the south," the newspaper quoted a Ukrainian expert as saying. Success at this point would open the way for the Russian military to Pavlohrad and later also to the large city of Dnipro.
Selenskyj expects more North Korean prisoners
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expects more North Korean prisoners of war as the fighting in the Kursk region continues. "It is only a matter of time before our soldiers take other (North Korean) prisoners," he wrote on Platform X. "There should be no doubt in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military help from North Korea." Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had tried to rewrite history three years ago, "but now he cannot do without military help from Pyongyang".
Selenskyj added a short video sequence of the two wounded suspected prisoners to his post. Both men are being questioned in several languages.
Kiev is prepared to hand over the prisoners to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un if he organizes the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russia. However, Selensky continued, there are also other options for North Korean soldiers if they do not want to return. "One of them has expressed the wish to stay in Ukraine, the other wants to return to Korea."
South Korea's NIS news service had previously confirmed Ukrainian reports about two North Korean prisoners of war. South Korea's official news agency Yonhap reported that one of the captured soldiers stated during his interrogation that he had not known that he had been sent to a war zone. He had assumed that his deployment was merely a training mission.
North Korea has provided Russia with around 12,000 soldiers to fight against Ukraine. They are now fighting with Russian uniforms and weapons in the Kursk region. According to the Ukrainians, the North Koreans have already suffered heavy losses.
Injured after Russian drone attack near Kherson
A man was injured in a Russian drone attack in a suburb of the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson this evening. The Russian military dropped explosives from the drone over Antonivka, the local military administration announced on Telegram. A 53-year-old man suffered an explosion injury and is in hospital. He had bruises, a fractured shin and shrapnel wounds to his legs, the report continued.
Power outage in Kherson after Russian attack
In Kherson, the supply of electricity and district heating was completely cut off on Sunday following a Russian artillery attack. Almost 23,000 households were without electricity, regional military administrator Roman Mrotschko announced on Telegram. Repair teams have already been deployed to repair the damage as quickly as possible.
The Russian military has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The repeated outage of electricity and district heating in the middle of winter is intended to put pressure on the Ukrainian population. Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for almost three years now.
