Putin wants Kursk, 50 thousand men and Kim’s soldiers back for an attack on Ukraine

And’air alert was triggered this morning in almost all of Ukraine because of takeoff of a large number of Russian bombersafter a series of attacks. Eight Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers are heading towards Ukraine, according to a message sent by the Ukrainian Air Force on Telegram.

Overnight, at least six people were killed and around twenty others injured in Russian attacks in Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, in the south of the country, according to local authorities. “Fires have broken out in residential buildings in the city and all emergency services are on site,” the governor of the Mykolaiv region, Vitaly Kim, wrote on Telegram, reporting five dead and one injured. “The Russians have once again attacked our city with drones,” Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich had previously reported.

Russia prepares 50 thousand men for attack in Kursk

Meanwhile Russia he also gathered 50,000 men, including North Korean soldiers, to launch the assault on the Ukrainian forces and reconquer the region of Kurskoccupied by Kiev since the beginning of August. The Russian plan for the turning point in the war takes shapeas outlined by the New York Times based on information and news from American and Ukrainian sources.

The contribution of thousands of soldiers sent by Kim Jong-un to support Vladimir Putin appears decisive. The men made available by Pyongyang and trained in recent weeks in various Russian bases allow Moscow not to change its plans in the other hot areas of the front.

What happens in Kursk

Russia is massing forces in Kursk without needing to withdraw soldiers from eastern Ukraine – its main battlefield priority – allowing Moscow to now press on multiple fronts at once, according to a new Washington assessment.

Russian troops have already recovered some of the territory captured by Ukraine across the border and continue to push into Donetsk. In the last few hours, in particular, according to the Ministry of Defense, the town of Volchenka, not far from Kurakhove, in the Pokrovsk district, was captured.

In Kursk, according to American officials, the Russians have long been threatening Ukrainian positions with missile attacks and artillery fire, but have not yet begun the decisive assault. From Kiev they say they expect an attack in the coming days that will also involve North Korean troops, given that soldiers from Moscow and Pyongyang have been training together for the offensive for days.

Will Kiev withstand the impact?

American officials are confident that Ukrainian troops are unlikely to leave their positions and that Russian and North Korean forces will likely suffer heavy losses, similar to those suffered by Russia in eastern Ukraine.

According to US military analysts, the current number of dead and wounded Russian troops averages over 1,200 per dayabove all due to the highly advanced artillery fire tactics in Kiev’s possession, which have proven devastating for Moscow and will probably also be devastating for the North Koreans, who fight only as light infantry, without having armored vehicles.

However, if Russia were to gain momentum, it may not stop at the border, but attempt to push Ukrainian forces back even further. For American officials it is still unclear whether Kim Jong-un will authorize his forces to conduct prolonged operations in Ukraine or whether these are intended only for the Kursk counteroffensive. Some believe that North Korea could order its troops to stop at the border without entering Ukraine.

Heavy losses but Putin doesn’t stop

Moscow, compared to Kiev, manages to guarantee a turnover on the front line by pouring new human resources to the front. Putin continues to have ‘cannon fodder’ at his disposal despite having lost almost 700 thousand men dead and wounded since the start of the war. The month of October that has just ended was very difficult according to the numbers that emerge from a BBC interview with the Chief of the Defense Staff of the United Kingdom, Admiral Tony Radakin. The military speaks of an “extraordinary price” for the Russians while what the Kremlin launched as a “special military operation” continues.

“Russia is about to reach 700,000 dead or wounded,” he says, speaking of losses for “small portions of territory.” “There is no doubt that Russia is achieving tactical and territorial successes and is putting pressure on Ukraine,” he adds. He observes, however, that Putin is allocating more than 40% of public spending to defense and security, a “huge burden” for the Federation which does not provide a balance sheet of its casualties.