Key Russian and North Korean Officers Killed in Ukraine’s Strike on Kursk Command Post, Zelenskyy Says

Russia and North Korea lost dozens of officers in a Ukrainian strike on the Kursk military command post on January 31, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Associated Press.

“Yesterday, our Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a powerful operation. In the Kursk region, they struck the enemy’s central command post, leading to the loss of key Russian and North Korean officers. I believe they lost dozens of officers yesterday,” Zelenskyy stated.

He described the strike as a “very powerful operation” by Ukrainian forces, which carried out a missile attack as part of a larger, complex assault involving various types of weaponry.

Ukraine’s General Staff had earlier confirmed the successful strike on the command post.

Zelenskyy also noted that, according to different estimates, Russia may deploy between 20,000 and 25,000 North Korean troops against Ukraine, though they have not yet arrived.

The President also stated that Russia had deployed approximately 12,000 North Korean troops to Kursk region, with over 4,000 reported as “lost.”

“They lost the combat capability of this first package of North Koreans. I can't call them anything else because it's a package — they don't know where they're going, and they're fighting against a country they've never been to,” Zelenskyy said.

Earlier, it was reported that Sergei Yefremov, the vice governor of Russia’s Primorsky region and the commander of the ‘Tiger’ unit, was killed in the Kursk region, according to reports from Russian officials and media sources.