A desperate plea came from Kiev on Saturday as Zelenskyy asked close allies to act more forcefully in support of Ukraine. He reiterated the need to be allowed to attack targets in Russia with the weapons donated to Ukraine.
“But instead: America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone is waiting for the North Korean military to start attacking Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, referring to the North Korean military presence in Russia.
Near the border
Ukrainian intelligence service Gur said on Saturday that more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers are near the Ukrainian border. In addition, Gur claimed that additional soldiers from North Korea, equipped with Russian weapons and equipment, are being trained in eastern Russia.
Concerns about the reinforcement of Russian forces in the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian military previously occupied land areas, are combined with the risk of a new Russian front against the northeastern part of Ukraine.
Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrsky, in turn, warned of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, “one of the most powerful” since the Russian war of invasion began on February 24, 2022.
Syrsky also indirectly warned that the Ukrainian military is suffering heavy losses, and that it “needs constant replenishment of assets.” General Syrsky did not specify where Russia launched the offensive, but media in the United States report clear Russian successes.
57,000 fell
According to The New York Times, Russian forces have captured land in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, retaking a third of the land previously captured by the Ukrainian military in a surprise attack.
In addition, the Ukrainian military is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit soldiers and has problems equipping new combat units. 57,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died, which is half of the Russian losses, the newspaper calculates.
Military assessors state, according to the newspaper, that, for example, the number of Russian drone attacks has increased from 350 in July to 750 in August. In September, 1,500 Russian drone attacks were reported.
New ones were carried out on Saturday.
President Zelensky announced that air strikes were heard in several Ukrainian cities and that Russian drone attacks caused destruction in Kiev and Poltava, Sumy and Kharkiv.