Both Russia and Ukraine suffer heavy casualties in the battles in Kursk, with questions about their abilities to sustain the war.

Since the new push in Russia’s Kursk Oblast in early January, Ukraine has made small gains and managed to capture the first North Korean prisoners of war in the area but experts have raised concerns about Kyiv’s use of limited resources while fierce battles rage elsewhere.

The fighting, in the Kursk region of Russia ... without clarifying the terms — Ukraine hopes to use Russian territory as a bargaining chip. Russia, relying on North Korean reinforcements ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that some 38,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded fighting in Russia's western Kursk region since August.

In a statement posted on X, Zelenskyy said he had instructed Ukraine's security service to allow journalists access to the captured soldiers.

The surprise attack seeks to reverse Ukraine’s decreasing hold of the region. Since Kyiv’s forces gained partial control of Kursk following a daring cross-border assault last August, Russian troops, aided by North Korean soldiers, have halved the territory held by Ukraine, albeit while suffering thousands of casualties.

A Ukrainian mopping-up group encountered one surviving North Korean fighter who had set an unsuccessful trap. The soldier attempted to mislead the Ukrainian soldiers and then detonated a grenade to avoid capture,

In the five months since Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia's Kursk region, fighting in the area has intensified, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides as they grapple over the territory.

Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the war last autumn.

Ukraine continues to cripple Russia's energy sector by hitting numerous oil refineries, depots, chemical plants, and more with drones.

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to broker a peace deal in Ukraine, but as he prepares to take office, peace seems as elusive as ever