NEW RECRUITS: A video released by Ukrainian officials allegedly shows dozens of North Koreans lining up to collect military fatigues from Russian servicemen
AFP, KYIV
Russian aerial strikes wounded more than a dozen and knocked out electricity for tens of thousands of Ukrainians overnight in attacks on residential areas as temperatures dropped toward freezing, Kyiv said yesterday.
Ukraine also said it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, about 750km from the border, in an overnight drone attack, while Moscow said it had shot down 110 drones, the largest attempted aerial barrage by Kyiv in more than two weeks.
At least 17 people were wounded in an attack on Kryvyi Rig, Ukraine, including a first responder, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said.
Explosions illuminate the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
“At night, the enemy attacked Kryvyi Rig, partially destroying an administrative building, damaging residential buildings and vehicles,” it said on Telegram.
“During the fire-fighting, the enemy struck again,” it added.
Russia also attacked an energy facility in the northeastern Sumy region, leaving more than 37,000 people without power, regional power operator Sumyoblenergo said on Telegram.
Kyiv is bracing for its toughest winter of the war yet, with Moscow having destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continuing to strike energy sites.
Ukranian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky in a post yesterday hailed soldiers in the Sumy region for holding the line in the face of Russian “superiority in manpower and equipment.”
Moscow said it had foiled the attempted massive overnight attack by Ukrainian forces.
Kyiv has repeatedly launched drone attacks deep into Russian territory, seeking to hit energy and military sites that it says key to supplying Moscow’s invading army.
A source in the Ukrainian Security Service said its drones had struck the Sverdlov explosives factory in Dzerzhinsk, just outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
The US and the EU have sanctioned the Sverdlov plant, one of Russia’s largest manufacturers of military explosives.
Footage posted on Russian social media showed a large explosion in the area and small drones being downed by air defense systems. Agence France-Presse could not immediately verify the footage.
On Saturday, Ukrainian officials released a video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues.
The video, published by the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, allegedly shows North Korean soldiers standing in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen.
The Associated Press could not verify the video independently.
“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” center head Ihor Solovey said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells, but also with personnel.”
The center claimed the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in the past few days, but it did not say how the footage was obtained. The location is unknown.
It comes after Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, claimed in local media that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were training in eastern Russia.
Additional reporting by AP
