ISW Reports Intensified Ukrainian Assault near Kursk: russia May Seek North Korean Troop Support in Response
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note that several thousand North Korean soldiers have traveled to the Kursk region to participate in a future russian counter-offensive operation to push back Ukrainian forces.
ISW notes that russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to double down on his likely exaggerated claims about russian progress in Kursk Oblast amid continued Ukrainian offensive operations and in the context of the likely imminent deployment of North Korean troops to combat in this area.
“Putin once again claimed that russian forces have encircled 2,000 Ukrainian forces in an area of about six kilometers by 15 kilometers. Putin also claimed that russian forces guarantee the safety of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW), although a spokesperson of a Ukrainian brigade operating in the Kursk direction reported that russian commanders issued an order to not take Ukrainian POWs, and presumably instead to kill any Ukrainian servicemembers who surrender or are captured by russian forces,” the statement reads.
It should be noted that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, denied previous statements by the Kremlin dictator about the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk Region.
Meanwhile, according to ISW, Ukrainian forces recently launched a likely reinforced platoon-sized mechanized assault on russian positions in Glushkovsky Raion west of the main Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast. Geolocated footage published on October 26 show that Ukrainian forces conducted a likely reinforced platoon-sized mechanized assault east of Novy Put (southwest of Glushkovo).
russian forces likely regained positions east of Novy Put at an earlier date and that Ukrainian forces likely maintain positions southeast of Novy Put along the russian-Ukrainian international border.
Earlier War Ukraine-Russia News Hub reported that the first Sarmat-3 armored vehicle had been lost on Ukrainian front.