North Korea has supplied Russia with thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine, intelligence officials said, but old footage that has resurfaced on social media does not show the funeral of a general deployed by Pyongyang to lead its troops in the ongoing invasion.

Outnumbered Ukrainian troops are clinging to a section of Russian territory in hopes of using it as a bargaining chip in any future negotiations.

Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in Russia's Kursk region and increased pressure in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine's top army commander said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded fighting for Moscow in Russia's western Kursk region.

Reclaiming Kursk is high on Moscow's agenda but comments by Valery Gerasimov failed to address the continuing presence of Ukrainian troops on Russian soil.

The assessment of drone vulnerability differs from an on-the-ground testimony obtained by the Kyiv Independent, in which a Special Forces serviceman disclosed how North Korean troops were well-protected by Russia’s electronic warfare,

"This fire strike is part of a comprehensive campaign to weaken the ability of the Russian Armed Forces to coordinate military operations against the people of Ukraine," Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications said.

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, promised the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, to keep the Kursk region and Pokrovsk before the inauguration of Donald Trump in the United States.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are still holding Great and Small Loknya in the Kursk region, but many Ukrainians are fleeing from their positions. This was stated to the LCI TV channel by one of the servicemen.

On the night of December 25, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the command post of Russia’s 810th Separate Marines Brigade located in an abandoned civilian building in Lgov, Kursk region. — Ukrinform.