The Daily Populous Thursday January 2nd, 2025 morning edition
Authored by kyivindependent.com and submitted by Yveliad

This audio is created with AI assistance

The Russian army has lost over 38,000 troops and more than 1,000 pieces of equipment since the beginning of Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Jan. 1.

Syrskyi's statement comes after his visit to Russia's Kursk Oblast to reward the Ukrainian military serving in the area.

Over 700 servicemen from the Russian military were captured during the Ukrainian incursion, the general added.

"We will continue to destroy the invaders. It doesn't matter whether they have Russian or North Korean passports. The battle continues," Syrskyi said.

Ukraine began its surprise incursion into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, capturing about 1,300 square kilometers of territory, according to Kyiv. Ukrainian forces have lost control of about half of the initially captured territory as intense fighting continues in the region. Kyiv hopes to use the occupied Russian territory as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with Russia.

Russia has also stationed approximately 12,000 North Korean soldiers in the region since August to assist in ousting Ukrainian forces.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 23 that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured since their deployment in Kursk Oblast.

Their casualties have been linked to their lack of knowledge of the terrain and modern drone warfare, according to South Korean MP Lee Sung-kwon.

Temporary_Heron7862 on January 1st, 2025 at 22:52 UTC »

Crazy to think there's a large conventional war going on in Europe for years at this point and yet tons of people still act like we're in Fukuyama's end of history.

macross1984 on January 1st, 2025 at 22:43 UTC »

And yet, Putin bemoan the fact that Russia's shrinking population and here he is tossing ever precious young Russians to meat grinder so they'll never be father to a child.

click79 on January 1st, 2025 at 22:22 UTC »

They just use people as if they have no value