20 Dec: Footage: Hospitals Full! North Koreans Suffer Insane Losses! - Reporting from Ukraine

Today, there is interesting news from the Kursk direction.

Here, Russians and North Koreans launched a massive front-wide assault in the western Kursk salient, combining their forces in trying to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses, and advance toward Malaya Loknya. However, the offensive quickly unraveled, as Ukrainian forces leveraged superior tactics, along with precise and devastating firepower, to crush the attackers and decisively repel the combined advance.

After observing that earlier North Korean meat wave assaults enabled small groups of survivors to infiltrate the forest belts northwest of Kruglenkoe, Russian commanders sought to capitalize on this limited success. Believing these survivors could regroup into more functional assault units for a renewed push toward the tactically significant village of Malaya Loknya, the Russians decided to intensify their offensive. They aimed to exploit the chaos and stretch Ukrainian defenses thin by launching a massive front-wide assault throughout the western Kursk salient.

To achieve this, the Russians opened four axes of advance. North Korean forces were tasked with pushing through the forest northwest of Kruglenkoe and advancing along the tree lines southwest of the village, utilizing their numerical advantage in hopes of overwhelming Ukrainian positions. Meanwhile, Russian units concentrated their efforts on the villages of Novoivanovka and Darino, critical points for controlling the surrounding terrain and linking their operations. Together, these coordinated thrusts aimed to encircle Ukrainian forces, disrupt their defensive lines, and secure a breakthrough toward Malaya Loknya, slicing off a massive portion of the Ukrainian Kursk salient in the process.

This operation had a clear objective: to overwhelm Ukrainian defenders by launching simultaneous attacks from multiple directions, forcing them to stretch their resources and manpower thin. However, the terrain posed significant challenges. At Darino, Russian forces were forced to cross a river, complicating movement and coordination. At Novoivanovka, they had to cross open roads which were heavily mined during the night by Ukrainian drones. With its mix of snow and rain, winter weather added another layer of complexity. Poor visibility partially limited Ukrainian drone operations, reducing the precision of their surveillance and artillery strikes. Yet the same was true for the Russians, as these conditions hindered them and the North Koreans even more, slowing their advances, increasing disorganization, and leaving them vulnerable to well-timed Ukrainian counterattacks.

Unfortunately for the Russians, their forces turned out to be even less successful than the North Koreans. Near Darino, the Russians attempted to exploit local roads and support their infantry with lightly armored vehicles, which were quickly targeted and stopped by the Ukrainians as soon as the weather cleared. Russian soldiers dispersed into the local tree lines to seek cover but were spotted by the drone operators and destroyed with artillery and FPV strikes.

The Russian assault on Novoivanovka was even more heavily supported, with tanks and armored personnel carriers advancing rapidly while attempting to use local tree belts as cover. However, their assumption that the Ukrainian defenders were worn down from weeks of relentless fighting could not be further from the truth. Nearly all the vehicles were obliterated by mines, laid by Ukrainian sappers, who meticulously restored these obstacles with drones after every Russian wave. This shows the outstanding performance of Ukrainian engineers in maintaining and renewing defensive measures, allowing defenses not to be worn out by constant attacks.

Near Kruglenkoe, the North Koreans established a limited presence in the forest but were under constant Ukrainian drone surveillance. So, as they gathered together for an attack on the village, they were immediately targeted by Ukrainian artillery armed with conventional and cluster rounds. Once the shells dispersed the initial concentration of North Korean soldiers, some of them ran back to the tree lines for cover. Ukrainians then deployed FPV drones, to hunt the remaining forces down, effectively nullifying their contingent.

Overall, the combined Russian and North Korean front-wide assault collapsed under the weight of their extreme losses. Russian sources published footage from hospitals in Kursk, where over a hundred wounded North Korean soldiers had been evacuated to for treatment. Once again, Ukrainian resilience and tactical superiority proved decisive, as Ukrainians deployed concentrated firepower and landmines on key points of the Russian and North Korean advance, while conducting a well-coordinated defense to neutralize the attackers, forcing them to retreat.