Russia sent one of its top generals, General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, to organize Russia’s defense in Kursk Oblast against a renewed Ukrainian attack, The Telegraph reported on Jan. 5.

Soldiers from the 8th Separate Special Operations Regiment of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SOF) have killed 13 North Korean servicemen in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Source: press service for the Special Operations Forces Details: SOF soldiers killed five North Korean fighters in a gunfight and another eight using drones during special operations.

Ukraine has largely been driven out of Kurakhove, a battered but strategic town in the Donbas, Russia said. Kyiv’s forces were pressing a renewed offensive in southern Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Russia had suffered heavy losses in five months of fighting Ukrainian forces in southern Russia's Kursk region, with nearly 15,000 killed. "During the Kursk operation,

KYIV

Russian forces continue to make costly but consistent gains in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. They are steadily grinding down a pocket of resistance around the town of Kurakhove and are also fighting to envelop the larger nearby city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers and officials said.

Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched a new offensive inside Russia's western Kursk border region, going on the attack with substantial forces.