Russia has seen more than 1,530 soldiers killed or wounded in the last day, with 13 tanks, 23 artillery systems and 51 armoured combat vehicles also destroyed, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This comes with fighting still raging inside occupied Ukraine, but also in the Russian Oblast of Kursk, which Ukrainian forces continue to hold. That said, in recent days, Vladimir Putin’s troops have reclaimed a significant amount of the Russian border region.
Despite the recent Russian losses, which take the total since the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine began to around 675,800 according to Ukrainian figures, the Kremlin will be buoyed by the support of its allies.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Pyongyang is preparing to send 10,000 troops to Russia in a move he claims would constitute ” the first step to a world war”.
“We know about 10,000 soldiers from North Korea they are preparing to send to fight against us,” he said.
On Wednesday, the BBC reported that Russia was building a combat unit comprising 3000 Korean troops.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rubbished the claims of a North Korean military unit, saying: “This is not only British intelligence, it is also American intelligence. They report it all the time, they don’t provide any evidence”.
It has also been previously reported that Russia had started producing attack drones in China for the first time.
An EU diplomatic spokesperson said that if the reports were “proven” then the Chinese production of drones for Russian would “go against China’s official narrative that it does not provide lethal weapons to Russia“.
Adding to the support of North Korea and China, Iran has “transferred hundreds of drones to Russia for use in its war of aggression in Ukraine since August 2022″, according to the UK government.
