Ukraine's SBU security service said on Tuesday it had uncovered a network of agents working for Russian military intelligence who tried to find where Ukraine hides Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets. The SBU said it "neutralised a large-scale agent network" of 12 agents and their informants, who "tried to identify the locations of secret military airfields where, according to the Russians, F-16 aircraft might be based."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called for a "real, lasting peace" that Russia could not break and said he hoped for an end to the war next year. Zelensky spoke in a video address to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in Tallinn, which brought together representatives from 10 northern European countries this week. "We all understand that next year could be the year this war ends. We must make it happen," Zelensky said. "We need to establish peace in a way that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can no longer break, a peace that's not just a pause, but a real, lasting peace," he added.
US president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to push for a quick deal to halt the fighting when he assumes office in January. That has sparked fears in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be pushed to make concessions to Moscow. The members of the JEF summit also stressed the importance of a fair and lasting peace. "A comprehensive, just and lasting peace requires full and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian forces and military assets from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders," they said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Russia has used North Korean troops at the heart of an "intensive offensive" in its western Kursk region seeking to push out Ukrainian forces, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Tuesday. Kyiv has been occupying part of the border region since August when it launched a shock cross-border incursion to seize Russian territory.
"For three days in a row, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using North Korean army units," Syrsky said in an address to local officials. Intelligence agencies in Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have all said Pyongyang has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia to fight alongside its army. "North Korean mercenaries have already suffered heavy losses. The Ukrainian defenders are steadfastly holding the defence, destroying enemy personnel and equipment," Syrsky said, without providing further details.
Ukraine said on Monday its forces had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean troops in Kursk. At least 10,000 North Korean forces have been deployed to help the Russian army, according to western estimates. The reports of a fresh Russian counter-offensive in Kursk come with Moscow's forces advancing in eastern Ukraine. Russia's army early on Tuesday claimed to have seized another small village in the eastern Donetsk region, around 10 kilometres south of the resource-rich hub of Kurakhove, which Moscow is also on the brink of capturing. Syrsky said the "most difficult situation" is currently around Kurakhove and the mining city of Pokrovsk -- two areas Russia is aiming to seize. He said the "operational and strategic situation remains difficult" across the 1,170-kilometre front line, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia's troops had seized "the strategic initiative" across the front. — AFP
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