Ukraine set to enter Crimea 'soon' after stealing North Korean rockets: reports
Ukrainian forces are planning to enter Russian-occupied Crimea “soon” and have been spotted with North Korean rockets they reportedly seized from Moscow’s forces, according to reports.
Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov did not specify when the military would begin their operation, according to Ukrainian news outlet TSN.
Crimea was annexed and invaded by Russia in 2014 and retaking it has become a key mission for Ukraine, which has been undertaking a slow but steady counteroffensive for weeks.
Recent fighting had ticked up over the last two days, near the village of Robotyne, near Orikhiv, British defense officials said Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have been spotted with North Korean rockets, the Financial Times reported.
Ukraine’s defense ministry suggested they captured the weaponry from Russia — despite both Moscow and the hermit kingdom denying that they had been conducting arms transactions.
The rockets were shown by Ukrainian soldiers operating Soviet-era Grad multiple-launch rocket systems near the war-torn city of Bakhmut, which has been the site of some of the war’s most brutal and long-lasting fighting.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov said that Ukraine could be entering the Crimean Peninsula soon. REUTERS
A Ukrainian artillery commander said his troops don’t like using the missiles, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because “they are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.”
Ukrainian soldiers also said a “friendly” country “seized” the missiles from a ship, but they did not give further details.
“We capture their tanks, we capture their equipment and it is very possible that this is also the result of the Ukrainian army successfully conducting a military operation,” Yuriy Sak, adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, told the outlet, adding: “Russia has been shopping around for different types of munitions in all kinds of tyrannies, including North Korea and Iran.”
Main sites of the Ukrainian counteroffensive Melitopol: Kyiv’s forces continued advancing toward the city of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov in the south. If Ukraine were to claw back Melitopol, it could bring it closer to breaking through the Russia-held land corridor linking the annexed Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia, splitting Moscow’s forces in two and cutting their supply lines. Zaporizhzhia: Intense battles raged in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, where US officials said Kyiv has launched its “main thrust” aimed at retaking 20% of its occupied territory. While Moscow claimed to have repelled Ukraine’s attacks involving dozens of armored vehicles and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv’s troops, the Institute for the Study of War reported that the Ukrainian offensive appeared to have broken through some Russian defenses. Donetsk: Ukrainian troops on Thursday recaptured the strategically significant village of Staromaiorske located in the Donetsk region south of a cluster of settlements along the Mokri Yaly river that Kyiv had seized at the start of the counteroffensive. Control of the village could open the way for Ukraine to push southward toward the coast. Bakhmut: Ukrainian forces were said to be “gradually moving forward” near Bakhmut in the east, where Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar claimed Russians were dying at a rate eight times higher than Ukrainians. Geolocated footage showed that Kyiv’s troops have made gains south of the town of Klishchiivka, and additional fighting was reported near the settlements of Kudriumivka and Andriivka.
In March, the White House said it had evidence that North Korea was giving weapons to Russia in exchange for food and US intelligence said Moscow had purchased millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea in September 2022.
Vladimir Putin has also been cozying up North Korea recently and sent his top military brass to meet with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Truce on Thursday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was photographed viewing North Korean ballistic missiles with Kim-Jong Un at a military expo in the country’s capital
Russian territorial defense fighters operate drones and practice battle techniques outside of Yevpatoriya, Crimea. REUTERS
China has also been sending military aid to Russia, including drones and body armor, Politico reported this week.
Meanwhile, more than 100 Wagner mercenaries, part of the fighting force exiled to Belarus after their short-lived mutiny on Moscow in June, have been inching closer to the Polish border and could be posing as migrants to enter Europe, according to the Polish prime minister.
Poland’s government has accused Russia and Belarus in the past of funneling migrants from the Middle East and Africa across the Poland-Belarus border as a way to destabilize the country, calling it “hybrid warfare.”
Those concerns have worsened following the Wagner group’s arrival in Belarus.
“The situation is getting increasingly dangerous … Most likely they (the Wagner personnel) will be disguised as the Belarusian border guard and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory (and) destabilise Poland,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference Saturday.
“They will most likely try to enter Poland pretending to be illegal migrants and this poses additional threats,” Morawiecki said.
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Source: New York Post
