Kyiv, Ukraine – While Ukrainian forces are fighting in the western region of Russia KurskThey face a new enemy – elite North Korean soldiers.

On Sunday, Ukrainian infantry and armored vehicles I resumed the attack In three directions in Kursk, trying to consolidate their foothold in the district center of Sodja, which they had captured in August.

By Tuesday, they had occupied at least three villages northeast of Sodja — inflicting casualties on North Koreans fighting in separate units under Russian command.

“We have thinned their ranks – they have casualties, although Kim did not send just ordinary soldiers,” a Ukrainian soldier told Al Jazeera, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

His name, details, and exact whereabouts were not revealed in accordance with war regulations.

South Korean and American officials said that Kim deployed more than 10,000 elite soldiers in Kursk. Hundreds of them Understood To kill there already.

More than 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Kursk, another Ukrainian soldier continues to fend off waves of Russian infantry near the main southeastern city of Pokrovsk.

“It seems like they are sending a new brigade every day,” the soldier told Al Jazeera.

The Russians continue to advance despite reported shortages of tanks and armored vehicles.

“They keep pushing. The only problem they have is their equipment, they can’t dispose of it the way they could three or four months ago.”

But the biggest problem facing his unit – as well as the entire Ukrainian armed forces – is: Say the shortage of the workforce.

Last week, Ukrainian forces withdrew from the town in the east of the country KurakhovWhich Russian forces announced their control on Monday.

Ukrainian forces have also lost a major coal mine near Pokrovsk, and may be about to lose Ukraine’s largest lithium reserve at Shevchenkov.

“The defense facilities in Kurakhov were seized simply because we had no one there,” the soldier said. “The most motivated soldiers have been killed, and the new soldiers lack training and motivation.”

He also pointed out poor decisions made by commanding officers, claiming that they wanted to appease their superiors and did not value the lives of soldiers.

“I have been hurt many times by the stupidity of leaders,” he said.

The Russians “loot” the city of Donetsk

A local woman claimed that Russian forces who took over Kurakhov were looting abandoned apartments.

“They break into apartments that were not damaged by the bombing, and steal everything they can carry,” said Olena Basenko, a former sales employee from Kurakhov searching for her elderly aunt who refused to leave the city. The island.

“They are ‘some’ liberators,” she said sarcastically, referring to Moscow’s pledge to “liberate” Ukraine from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “neo-Nazi military junta” – Russian claims that have been debunked throughout the war.

Manpower shortages in Ukraine have led some analysts to be skeptical of Kiev seeking to resume the Kursk offensive.

“Zelensky’s strategy is to mass the brigades with equipment in the rear and then formally lose them on Kursk land to gain 1.5 km. [1 mile] “From agricultural land,” Nikolai Mitrokhin, a researcher at the German University of Bremen, told Al Jazeera.

He added that units advancing on Kursk could have been used instead to defend Kurakhov.

However, others see the Kursk offensive as an opportunity to gain an important bargaining chip.

Ukraine may try to seize a Russian nuclear power plant in the town of Kurchatov, located about 70 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Sodja, and could try to seize the regional capital of Kursk, 30 kilometers (20 miles) away.

If successful, the operation to capture Kurchatov could become a major strategic gain, according to the former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“We didn’t want to make things worse, but we needed to,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko told Al Jazeera.

He added that Kiev may also invade the nearby Russian region of Bryansk, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reputation at home.

“It will be painful for Putin, and if there is an attack somewhere in Bryansk or in some other region, it will make him think,” Romanenko said.

Some Russians mock Putin’s policies that led to the first foreign invasion of western Russia since World War II.

“If the grandfather from the bunker is so wise, why do we have Ukrainians on Russian soil? There should be “Something’s wrong.”

The city of Bryansk is located on the border with Ukraine and has been repeatedly attacked by two Ukrainian military units consisting of… Russian fighters loyal to Ukraine.

Romanenko said that Putin’s decision to intensify the Russian offensive in southeastern Ukraine indicates the “abject failure” of Trump’s “peace.” He plans“.

“This approach ended in failure because Putin rejected the version proposed by the Trump team,” he said.

Trump has provided few details about the plan, but according to his team, it could include creating a “demilitarized zone” along the current front line, Kiev ceding areas occupied by Russia, and delaying Ukraine’s membership in NATO.

Naval drone weapons in Ukraine

At the end of last year, Ukraine achieved a small victory that may portend heavy losses in Russian naval bases and civilian seaports.

On December 31, Ukrainian naval drones, or unmanned ships armed with small missiles, attacked Russian helicopters in Sevastopol Bay, the main naval base in the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Ukraine announced that it had shot down two helicopters, killing all 16 crew members.

Moscow did not acknowledge any losses, but said its forces destroyed four Ukrainian drones and two naval drones.

Mitrokhin of the University of Bremen said the attack showed that naval drones could damage Russian ports and maritime infrastructure along the Black Sea.

Moreover, Kiev could use naval drones to launch attacks on the Russian Navy in the Baltic, Barents and White Seas and in the Pacific Ocean.

“There is a lot of infrastructure there, and it would be difficult to cover it even with boom barriers, let alone protect it from all sides as in Sevastopol or [the Crimean port of] “Feodosia,” he said.

On the other hand, the ongoing war of attrition is a test for the economies of Ukraine and Russia.

The Russian economy has partly adapted to the pressures [Western] “Sanctions are imposed on the country, but it is currently entering an inflation shock of overheating and slowing growth” due to rising central bank interest rates, said Alexei Kosh, a Kiev-based analyst.

He said the Ukrainian economy was “in shock” due to severe damage to energy infrastructure and workforce shortages.

But oil and gas exports are helping the Russian economy recover from the shock, while Ukraine is staying afloat thanks to Western financial aid.

“It creates a certain leveling effect amidst the resistance to war,” Koch told Al Jazeera.