Russia gathers troops for Kursk offensive; Putin-Trump call denied by Kremlin

According to the commander-in-chief of Kiev’s armed forces, Russia has massed “tens of thousands of soldiers” to retake land in the Kursk region captured from Ukraine.

Oleksandr Syrskyi said Monday that Russian forces in Kursk are “trying to dislodge our troops and advance deep into the territory we control,” where the Ukrainian military has been fighting since a surprise invasion in August that turned the tables on the two-and-a-half-year war. occupied large areas.

The push to retake the territory comes as the two sides exchange a fierce wave of drone strikes that Ukraine says have left eight people dead, and in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, which undermined the U.S. approach could be turned upside down in war. The Kremlin denied Monday that Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine and its allies have warned for weeks that a counteroffensive in Kursk was likely, saying thousands of North Korean troops were among the force assembled by the Kremlin in Kursk.

“The importance of this area of ​​operations cannot be underestimated given the number of enemy troops concentrated there,” Syrskyi said in a post on Telegram, adding that soldiers were engaged in fighting in the area. “Without the steadfastness of our soldiers, these tens of thousands of enemies from the best Russian assault units would have stormed our positions elsewhere on the front,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed in September that Ukraine had captured around 500 square miles of Russian territory, but its offensive stalled in recent months after Putin vowed to “push” Ukrainian troops from the country.

Russia initially struggled to respond and appeared to have limited resources to push back the first invasion of Russian land since World War II.

But Zelensky said last week that about 11,000 North Korean soldiers were in the border areas with Ukraine and were taking part in the “fight against Ukrainian military personnel.”

“There are losses; That’s a fact,” he said

The Pentagon had previously confirmed that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia for training and were likely to join the fight against Ukraine, deepening their partnership and alarming the United States and its allies.

As Russia continues its offensive, Ukraine is also bracing for a changing political landscape after its biggest backer elected a new president.

Trump has said he could resolve Russia’s invasion before he takes office and has praised Putin while blaming Zelensky for the war.

Tech mogul Elon Musk briefly joined Trump’s conversation with Zelensky last Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. Zelensky described the call as “excellent.”

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday denied a Washington Post report that Trump had spoken to Putin, citing several unnamed sources.

“There was no conversation,” Peskov claimed. “This is completely untrue. It’s pure fiction, it’s just false information.”

Russia’s move into Kursk represents the latest escalation in fighting after the two countries engaged in a wave of drone strikes over the weekend.

Ukraine said heavy Russian shelling killed eight civilians in the country from Sunday to Monday morning, including five in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

Casualties also occurred in the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk and Sumy, according to local officials.

The attacks came after Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the all-out invasion of the Kremlin began in 2022, injuring one person and forcing three major airports to divert flights.

Russia has fired an unprecedented 145 drones against Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said Russian drone strikes in the southern Odessa region injured at least two people and damaged buildings. Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine had suffered $800 billion in damages from Russian aggression.

Mykhailo Samus, a Ukrainian military analyst and director of the New Geopolitics Research Network, told NBC News that Putin may rush to retake the Kursk region now that he faces negotiations with Trump and Zelensky.

“The Kursk Oblast will be one of the cards on the table that President Zelensky uses when it comes to the conditions for ending the war or negotiating a ceasefire,” he said in a telephone interview.

“It will be very difficult for Putin to explain to the Russian people and Russian elites how it is possible for them to discuss Russian territory with the Americans. “So I’m sure there will be very intense fighting in the next few weeks,” he said.

Christopher Tuck, a conflict and security expert at King’s College London, echoed Samus, saying North Korean troops had “accelerated Russia’s ability to carry out the offensive.”

“The presence of North Korean troops was an important factor in this new offensive, as these forces will likely be able to provide the initial cannon fodder that Russia’s current style of warfare requires,” he said.

“We don’t yet know how long they will be militarily effective.”