Russian Defense Ministry Reports Drone Attacks and North Korean Casualties
In a significant escalation of hostilities, Ukrainian forces have launched a series of drone and missile strikes into Russian territory, resulting in a fire at an oil refinery in the Rostov region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, they successfully intercepted 84 drones across various regions, including 36 in Rostov, claiming to have thwarted what they described as terrorist attacks from Kyiv. The acting governor of Rostov, Yuriy Slyusar, confirmed that at least 13 missiles and numerous drones targeted the area, leading to a fire at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, which has been a repeated target for Ukrainian forces. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished early Thursday morning, with reports of only one injury.
In a related development, a South Korean lawmaker revealed that approximately 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed and around 1,000 injured in clashes with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. MP Lee Seong-kyun, after a briefing from South Korea's National Intelligence Service, attributed these heavy losses to the North Korean troops' inexperience in drone warfare and their unfamiliarity with the open terrain of the battlefield. He noted that many casualties were caused by Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, as well as training accidents. A senior US military official corroborated these claims, indicating that North Korean forces have suffered significant casualties in the ongoing conflict, as they were deployed to support Russian military efforts in the region.
