At the same time on Saturday, the Ukrainian armed forces reported 179 separate clashes along the tense line of contact, facing down attacks around the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the city of Pokrovsk in the country's Donbas region. They estimated as many as 1,730 Russian personnel were killed or captured in the assaults.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Jan. 4 that Russian forces lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry and Russian paratroopers in battles near Makhnovka, a village in Kursk Oblast.

UKRAINE has stunned Vladimir Putin’s forces with a counter offensive in the Kursk region while Russia suffers “significant” troop losses – including North Korean soldiers.

Russian forces continue to make costly but consistent gains in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. They are steadily grinding down a pocket of resistance around the town of Kurakhove in the southern Donbas region and are also fighting to envelop the larger city of Pokrovsk to the north, Ukrainian soldiers and officials said.

Zelenskiy reports battles near Makhnovka, Kursk region North Korean and Russian troops suffer significant losses Fierce battles along 1,000-km front line, Pokrovsk hardest hit Jan 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces suffered heavy losses in fighting in Russia's southern Kursk region.