Russian forces have taken control of the strategic coal-mining city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday.
Reuters news agency said it could not independently confirm the battlefield report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Russia calls the city, which had a pre-war population of about 30,000 people, by its Soviet-era name of Dzerzhinsk and says Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where it is located, is now part of Russia, a claim Kyiv rejects.
Ukrainian military analysts say that capturing Toretsk, which is on high ground, could allow Russian forces to further complicate logistics for Ukrainian forces in much of the east and to advance to the northwest towards the regional logistics hub of Kostiantynivka, which links to several key cities.
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Most of Toretsk’s civilian population has long since fled or been evacuated and many of the city’s buildings are pulverised or badly damaged.
North Korean troops sent to fight alongside Russia have not been seen in battle for several weeks, raising speculation they have been withdrawn after suffering heavy losses, according to South Korea’s spy agency. The National Intelligence Service in Seoul this week confirmed media reports that North Korean troops had been pulled from the frontline around the middle of January.
North Korea began sending an estimated 11,000 troops to the Russian Kursk region in late 2024, soon after the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, agreed a mutual defence pact designed to strengthen their alliance against what they called a US-led “western hegemony”.
Its involvement in the war in Ukraine has come at a heavy price. Intelligence officials in South Korea said about 300 North Koreans had been killed and about 2,700 wounded.
The arrival of North Korean troops triggered fears that the war could take a dangerous turn for Ukraine, amid claims by military officials in South Korea that the regime in Pyongyang was preparing to send even more troops.
In return for sending personnel, weapons and ammunition, North Korea is hoping to gain access to sophisticated Russian satellite technology and earn foreign currency to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
South Korea’s intelligence service said the large number of casualties was a factor in the apparent decision to withdraw North Korean soldiers from Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise offensive in August 2024.
North Korea has not publicly acknowledged its role in the war, but in October Mr Putin did not deny that North Korean forces had arrived in Russia.
North Korean vice-foreign minister Kim Jong-gyu said any such deployment would be in line with international law.
– Reuters/Guardian