Reports on Tuesday indicated the presence of a North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer on the Russian front lines, following November reports of the shipment of two such weapons.
This artillery piece boasts a range of up to 37 miles when using rocket-assisted shells and a firing rate of one to two shells every five minutes.
East 2 West news initially reported the weaponry, including a video seemingly showing a howitzer in a combat zone, and social media images surfaced, although independent verification of the weapon’s location remains unconfirmed.
According to November reports, geolocation data placed the howitzers traversing Siberia by rail, shortly after the U.S. confirmed the deployment of up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers to Russia and five months after a Pyongyang-Moscow defensive treaty was signed.
The video’s origin in Russia’s Kursk region, where North Korean troops were deployed to counter Ukraine’s August incursion, is unconfirmed.
Both Ukraine and Russia have reported significant casualties in the region. President Zelenskyy stated in a Sunday interview that approximately 3,800 North Korean troops were killed or wounded. The Ukrainian military claimed on Monday that 15,000 Russian soldiers were killed and 23,000 injured in Kursk over the past five months.
Russia, in a separate report, alleged at least 49,000 Ukrainian troops were lost, without specifying the breakdown of casualties.
Independent verification of casualty reports from both nations is pending.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukrainian forces made tactical advances in Kursk amid intensified offensive operations, potentially conducting long-range strikes against Russian rear areas to support ground operations.
Limited Russian ground operations continued towards Kharkiv on Sunday and Monday, with minimal gains—an operation largely countered by Ukraine since May. Oleh Synehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, stated that Ukraine’s recent offensive in Kursk reduced Russian ground attacks in northern Kharkiv Oblast, according to the ISW.
Reports on Monday suggested Russian advances in Donetsk, including the capture of Kurakhove, a front-line town. This could indicate Russian forces are closing in on Ukrainian troops, potentially encircling them and securing strategic access to supply routes connecting the area to Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine has yet to officially confirm the loss of Kurakhove.
Currently, Russian forces are not assessed to have made strategic advances in other front-line areas.