Zelenskyy says Ukraine up against 50,000-strong force in Russia’s Kursk

Russia is trying to push Ukrainian forces from its western Kursk region with tens of thousands of soldiers, Ukraine’s president says, aiming to retake territory it has lost since August while its offensive in eastern Ukraine grinds on.

In a post on Telegram on Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian soldiers were fighting against nearly “50,000 enemy troops” in Kursk.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would “considerably strengthen” its positions on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the east, where the most active fighting is occurring.

In August, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk, seizing settlements in its first operation in Russian territory since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.

Russia, however, has continued its slow but steady advance across much of eastern Ukraine, which it is capturing village by village in a bid to seize the entire industrialised Donbas region.

Zelenskyy’s comments come a day after The New York Times reported that Moscow had assembled a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean soldiers, in the Russian region bordering Ukraine.

Western countries, South Korea and Ukraine have all said North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean soldiers on its territory.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a treaty on Moscow’s strategic partnership with Pyongyang, including a mutual defence provision.

Rescuers and municipal employees work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine [Danylo Antoniuk/Reuters)

Meanwhile, on Monday, Russian attacks damaged a dam near the front line in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, its governor said, warning that nearby villages could be threatened by rising water levels.

Moscow’s army is rapidly advancing in the Donetsk region and are closing in on the town of Kurakhove, which lies next to the reservoir and had a pre-war population of about 18,000 people.

“The Russians damaged the dam of the reservoir of Kurakhove. This strike potentially threatens residents of settlements on the Vovcha River, both in Donetsk and Dnipro regions,” Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Also on Monday, a Russian missile hit a residential building in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, injuring at least seven people.

The Dnipropetrovsk region’s governor, Serhiy Lysak, said on Telegram that a 10-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy were among the injured.

A Ukrainian military spokesperson also told the Reuters news agency on Monday that Russian infantry groups could launch ground assaults on the neighbouring Zaporizhia region in a matter of days.

The spokesperson said the attacks could put more pressure on Kyiv’s forces, which are already overstretched.

“[The assaults] could begin in the near future. We’re not even talking about weeks. We’re expecting it to happen any day,” Vladyslav Voloshyn told Reuters.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied Putin had spoken to US President-elect Donald Trump on the Ukraine war despite reports that the leaders had spoken.

“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,” Peskov said, adding that there were “no concrete plans yet” for Putin to contact Trump.

During his campaign to win the White House, Trump said he could end the war within 24 hours if elected without elaborating.

Separately, the Kremlin said it sensed that European powers were nervous about Trump’s presidency and it was too early to speak to European leaders about ending the conflict as they continue to supply Kyiv with weapons.

“No preparation is being carried out now [to speak to European leaders]. We have not received any signals,” Peskov said.

“European leaders are continuing … to try to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia,” he added.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies