Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv in new Kursk attack amid warning Putin will ‘destroy Europe’ if US exits Nato

Speaking during his nightly video address on Saturday, Mr Zelensky cited reports from top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, saying battles near the village of Makhnovka, close to the Ukrainian border, resulted in the loss of up to a battalion of Russian paratroopers and North Korean infantry troops.

“This is significant,” Mr Zelensky said, without providing further details. A battalion typically comprises several hundred soldiers. However, the claims could not be independently verified.

Ukraine’s position in Russia’s Kursk is critical to any future negotiations, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said today during his trip to South Korea.

“Their position in Kursk is an important one because certainly it’s something that would factor in any negotiation that may come about in the coming year,” Mr Blinken told reporters in Seoul.

“Negotiations on Ukraine ceasefire should lead to a just and durable outcome,” he said today.

Mr Blinken said that the outgoing administration of president Joe Biden wants to ensure that “Ukraine has the strongest possible hand to play”.

Even if negotiations take place, Mr Blinken said Ukraine would still need “adequate security assurances” against Vladimir Putin.

“There is going to be, at some point, a ceasefire. It’s not going to be in Putin’s mind ‘game over’,” Mr Blinken said.

“His imperial ambitions remain, and what he will seek to do is to rest, refit, and eventually re-attack,” the US official said, calling for an “adequate deterrent in place so that he doesn’t do that”.

The city of Toretsk has been divided in two as Ukrainian forces continue to fiercely defend the city in the Donetsk region.

Russians have been using scorched earth tactics to try and destroy the city’s infrastructure and Ukrainian military positions, according to DeepState, an open source intelligence organisation.

“There are a lot of resources there. Especially everything related to FPV and attack drones. The enemy does a lot of damage with them,” the acting commander of the Tsunami Regiment is quoted as saying, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“They also have a lot of artillery. The enemy is constantly carrying out assault operations, constantly working from different directions: from the north, from the south, and from the east.

“They use vehicles, mainly ATVs and motorcycles. So far, no armoured vehicles have been spotted. The fighting is going on in the city itself.

“The line of contact is somewhere in the centre of the city. We can say that the enemy and us cut the city in half.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said sanctions on supply chains for Russian military components are “insufficient”.

A Russian drone attack using 103 Shahed drones contained 8,755 foreign-made components , Mr Zelensky said. In the past week, Russia has used over 50,000 sanctioned components from around the world in hundreds of strikes on Ukraine, he said.

“The sanctions pressure on supply chains for foreign components remains insufficient. Russia continues to acquire the components and manufacturing tools it needs – almost globally – and uses them in the weapons it employs to terrorize Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on X.

“We must continue strengthening cooperation with all our partners on sanctions, air defense systems, long-range weapons, and support for our warriors. These priorities will help protect our cities, villages, and positions on the frontline. I am grateful to every partner helping us with this.”

North Korea has suffered nearly 4,000 casualties in its fighting against Ukrainian troops in Kursk, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“North Korea… 12,000 have arrived [in the Russian Federation to join the war against Ukraine]. As of today, 3,800 have been killed or wounded,” he said in an interview.

“They can bring 30,000-40,000 more. Or maybe 500 [thousand]. They can bring many people. Because they have an autocracy,” he said.

In his previously shared data on 23 December, Mr Zelensky had said the number of North Korean soldiers killed and wounded in action in Russia’s Kursk oblast exceeds 3,000.

Four Russian airports reopened on Sunday morning after suspending flights to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft, aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said.

Airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Izhevsk and Perm – all east of Moscow – halted flights temporarily on Sunday morning.

Rosaviatsia did not specify a reason for the pause in flights, but airports have previously closed due to the risk of Ukrainian drone activity.

All restrictions were lifted by 11am, the watchdog said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has cautioned that any decision by Trump to exit Nato would weaken the military alliance and embolden Russian president Vladimir Putin in Europe.

The Ukrainian president said it was up to the US to determine Nato’s future. “I’m simply saying that if it does (quit the alliance), Putin will destroy Europe,” Mr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader said he needed to sit down with Mr Trump to determine a course of action to halt the Kremlin and that Europe’s governments also needed to have a voice in that process before Kyiv could sit down for talks with the Russian side.

He also made the case that Mr Putin was not interested in serious negotiations to end the war, and that the Kremlin leader would have to be compelled to stop and agree to a lasting peace.

Currently, Russian forces are advancing in the east, slowly but surely, and they are shrinking Ukraine’s partial hold of the border region of Kursk.

That the Russians haven’t been more successful is a testament, above all else, to the resilience of Ukraine’s troops on the ground, many of whom have been fighting continuously for years. Dysfunction in the Russian military, with Mr Putin as its de facto commander-in-chief, is another.

But US president Joe Biden has sent the final military package of his tenure to Ukraine, ending the support (for now) of Kyiv’s most heavily-armed ally. US president-elect Donald Trump will soon re-enter the White House on the promise of ending the fighting altogether, even if that potentially means rewarding Mr Putin for his illegal land grab.

US president-elect Donald Trump can be the first world leader to fly to Ukraine and land in the currently shut Kyiv airport, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian airspace has been closed since the February 2022 Russian invasion, and commercial air travel across Ukraine remains suspended.

Stating that he is looking forward to the reopening of Kyiv Airport, Mr Zelensky said: “Maybe we will open it, but only, and you must understand, if the war is over. There must be sustainable peace – and air defence systems, to be honest.”

“But there will be a moment… I think that the war will end and President Trump may be the first leader to travel here by airplane. I think it would be symbolic,” he told American podcaster Lex Fridman.

Mr Trump, the Ukrainian president added, had indicated when they spoke late last year that there would be an official Ukrainian visit to the United States soon after he takes office.