Russia claim two Ukrainian villages as strikes kill one person and wound several others

Russia’s gains follow reports that North Korean troops have been redeployed along the front line in Ukraine.

RUSSIAN FORCES HAVE claimed two villages in eastern Ukraine as officians in Kyiv said strikes killed one person and wounded 19 others.

Moscow’s defence ministry said its forces had captured Sudne and Burlatske, in the south of the Donetsk region. Both villages are near the town of Velyka Novossilka, which was seized by the Russian army in January.

The Ukrainian airforce said Russia had launched 154 drones overnight. A total of 103 were incepted and 51 others disappeared from the radar, without causing damage or casualties.

Regional authorities have reported one death and several injuries, however. In the southern Odesa region, one person died and three were injured according to prosecutors there.

Twelve people were wounded in the northeastern Kharkiv region and two others in the Kerson region, local officials said today. Two were wounded in rail and mining hub Pokrovsk, where Russian forces are gaining ground.

Those operations threaten key logistical hubs for Ukrainian troops.

Meanwhile, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met with a senior North Korean official in Moscow earlier this week – Pyongyang’s state media revealed this morning.

It came as reports from South Korea this week claimed that North Korean troops have redeployed on the front line.

During the meeting, Putin thanked North Korea for “its positive support to the Russian Federation”, the state media said. The Kremlin confirmed the meeting in a statement on Thursday.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has officially acknowledged that North Koreans have been deployed to fight against Ukraine. The two countries have boosted their military cooperation since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.