Russian airstrikes kill 3 in Ukraine as Zelenskyy warns of evolving drone tech
Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russian drone strikes and bombs killed at least three people in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight, regional officials there said, even though Moscow’s latest drone and missile barrage elsewhere was significantly smaller than preceding nights.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a post to Telegram that another 56 people were injured by Russian attacks overnight, which included the use of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones, first-person view commercial-style drones and KAB guided bombs.
More than 103 residential buildings were damaged, Terekhov said, describing the destruction as “enormous.”
Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second largest city with a pre-war population of around 1.4 million — sits just 20 miles from the Russian border. That proximity has seen the city bombarded throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Kharkiv has also faced intense recent attacks as Moscow expanded its drone and missile campaign, plus as Russian forces reportedly mass along the nearby border and threaten new incursions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the strikes on Kharkiv, “Every new day now means new vile strikes by Russia, and almost every strike is indicative. Russia deserves increased pressure, with literally every hit on ordinary life it proves that pressure is not enough. And we should not be afraid, not postpone new decisions that could complicate the situation for Russia.”
“Without this, they will not go for real diplomacy,” Zelenskyy added. “And this depends primarily on the United States and other world leaders. Everyone who called for an end to the killings and for diplomacy must act.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday night, at least five people were injured by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region, local officials said in a post to Telegram. One person was also killed and another injured by Russian shelling in the eastern Donetsk region, officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 85 drones and one missile into the country overnight, of which 49 drones were shot down or otherwise neutralized. Impacts were recorded in 14 locations, with drone debris falling in two other locations, the air force said.
Zelenskyy said in a Tuesday night post to Telegram that he had spoken with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov about “our efforts to counter drones, protect against missiles and reinforce our air defense.” The meeting came after Monday night’s massive Russian attack on cities including Kyiv.
“The Russians have once again used ballistic missiles from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said of Monday night’s attacks. “We are also tracking evidence that Russian-Iranian drone technologies have spread to North Korea. This is extremely dangerous both for Europe and for East and Southeast Asia.”
“The longer this war continues on our territory, the more warfare technologies evolve and the greater the threat will be to everyone,” Zelenskyy added. “This must be addressed now — not when thousands of upgraded Shahed drones and ballistic missiles begin to threaten Seoul and Tokyo.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 33 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday morning.
In Russia’s Tambov region — around 260 miles southeast of Moscow and 230 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory — acting governor Evgeny Pervyshov said on Telegram that a fire broke out in the town of Kotovsk due to falling drone debris. “The situation is under control,” Pervyshov wrote.
But Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in a Telegram post that an explosives plant in the area was hit by drones.
Kovalenko claimed that the Tambov gunpowder plant had been forced to suspend operations by the strike. “It produces gunpowder used for various types of small arms, artillery and rocket systems,” he said of the facility.
“The enterprise is one of the main suppliers of explosives for the Russian army,” Kovalenko added. “With the beginning of a full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant has increased significantly.”
The governor of Russia’s western Belgorod region said six people were also injured by a Ukrainian drone strike on a factory in the town of Shebekino. All were hospitalized, the governor said in a post to Telegram.
ABC News’ Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — At least 36 Palestinians were killed while attempting to get aid in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
This is the highest death toll from a shooting near an aid distribution center in Gaza since the opening of the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites last month, according to numbers from the health ministry.
The shooting happened when Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution site in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, according to two local hospitals in Gaza. Over 100 people were injured in the shooting, according to the two hospitals.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement it fired “warning shots to distance suspects,” who were advancing in the area and “posed a threat to troops.”
The IDF said the warning shots were fired “hundreds of meters form the aid distribution site,” before it opened in the statement.
“The IDF is aware of reports regarding several individuals injured in the area,” it said. “An initial inquiry suggests that the number of reported individuals injured does not align with the information held by the IDF.”
“The details are under review,” the IDF said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — which has been running aid distribution in Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade last month — resumed aid distribution on Monday after previous shootings near aid sites, saying it gave out 1,386,000 meals at two sites. The GHF has not specified what it considers a meal.
The GHF has closed its aid distribution sites several times since it began distributing meals after several shooting incidents. As of Tuesday, at least 163 people had been killed while trying to get aid from GHF aid distribution sites, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The blockade was instituted to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during Hamas’ surprise terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of hundreds, Israel said.
The GHF was first announced on May 19 — three days after the Israeli government began its increased military operation in Gaza. After the end of an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid entering Gaza, the GHF — a private contractor backed by the U.S. and Israel — took over distributing aid in Gaza.
Humanitarian groups and the United Nations have said the GHF politicizes aid and criticized the role of IDF forces in the operation.
Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of extreme starvation and famine even after Israel lifted the blockade on all humanitarian aid entering the Strip, according to aid groups like the U.N., the International Committee of the Red Cross and others.
Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia and Ukraine have begun a large exchange of prisoners of war on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, with around 1,000 soldiers from each side expected to be swapped at the Ukraine-Belarus border when completed.
There have been 270 Russian soldiers and 120 Russian civilians swapped for 270 Ukrainian soldiers and 120 Ukrainian civilians on Friday, according to the defense ministry. The exchange is expected to continue “in the coming days,” Russia said.
“We are bringing our people home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “The first stage of the ‘1000-for-1000’ exchange agreement has been carried out.”
“Thank you to everyone who is helping and working 24/7 to bring Ukrainian men and women back home,” he continued. “It is very important to return everyone who remains in captivity. We are verifying every surname, every detail about each person. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to make such steps possible.”
The Russian soldiers and civilians were in Belarus, “where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Though the meeting — the first direct talks between the combatants since the spring of 2022 — failed to result in a ceasefire, the two sides did agree to Friday’s prisoner swap.
Such exchanges have taken place throughout Russia’s 3-year-old invasion, though the swap — once completed — will be by far the largest to date. Prisoner exchanges are one of the few areas in which Moscow and Kyiv have been able to reach an accord during the conflict.
President Donald Trump also held a high-stakes phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, saying afterward that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” start negotiations toward a ceasefire. Trump said he also spoke with Zelenskyy after the call with Putin.
Fierce fighting and long-range drone exchanges continued regardless — and despite continued U.S.-led efforts to produce a ceasefire agreement.
Russia carried out a “large-scale aerial attack” on Ukraine overnight Friday using 175 drones and one ballistic missile, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 150 of those Russian drones, but damage was reported in the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Odesa, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday reported 76 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, of which 63 were shot down or lost in flight without causing damage. The air force reported damage in four Ukrainian regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 162 Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Natalia Popova and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
This undated photo shows members of Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Regiment posing with Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi at an undisclosed frontline location. (225th Separate Assault Regiment Press Office)
LONDON — Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev’s first experience of North Koreans came at the contact line near Kruglenkoe — a village around 8 miles from the Ukrainian border in Kursk, the western Russian region that has become a focal point of the war and an example of both Ukraine’s determination and the brutal war of attrition the two sides are locked in.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive into the border region in August. Since then, both sides have claimed to have inflicted significant losses on the other. Russia began sending North Korean troops to the region to help fight back against Kyiv’s forces in late 2024, according to Ukrainian, South Korean and Western officials.
“They tried to do an assault with a company group,” Shyriaiev — the commander of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment — told ABC News, speaking by video call from his unit’s operations room close to the front. “We were prepared.”
“We withdrew a bit and we created a minefield,” he recalled. “And after the North Koreans hit those mines, my guys just finished them off with guns.”
The subsequent months saw Pyongyang’s units become the “elite” assault force within Russia’s effort to dislodge Ukrainian troops in Kursk, Shyriaiev said — fighters committed to a mission far from home in horrific battlefield conditions.
Ousting Ukraine’s forces from Kursk became a priority for the Kremlin. But for nearly 8 months, Russian troops struggled, suffering heavy losses for little ground. To drive the Ukrainians out, Russia turned to North Korea for help.
“They do not surrender,” Shyriaiev said of Pyongyang’s troops. “I don’t remember any cases where we have been able to take them captive. We have taken some who were already wounded, but I think they died from their wounds.”
Now, with Ukraine holding onto a sliver of land in Kursk and peace efforts grinding along, Shyriaiev echoed Kyiv’s assertion that the operation was a success, though it ended in Ukrainian retreat.
“They have lost a lot of personnel, both recoverable and irrecoverable losses,” he said of Russian and North Korean forces. “They have lost a lot of equipment, a lot of their infrastructure has been damaged, which means that they would need to rebuild it. This also comes at a cost. And this also weakens Russia.”
For Moscow, the eventual ejection of Ukrainian forces from almost all of Kursk was a signal of Russian resolve. President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Kursk front in March visibly tied him to the operation. “Your task is to completely destroy the enemy,” Putin said, while clad in military fatigues. “The previous status along the borderline must be restored.”
North Korea’s assistance came at a sensitive moment. President Joe Biden was soon to leave the White House, with his successor President Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office promising to quickly end Russia’s war. Trump had repeatedly hinted that a future peace deal would include Ukrainian territorial and political concessions and be twinned with the curtailment of U.S. aid to Kyiv.
Trump has been broadly critical of Ukraine’s conduct since returning to office, repeatedly framing Kyiv as the main impediment to a peace deal. In March, Trump claimed that “thousands of Ukrainian troops” were “completely surrounded” in Kursk, describing their position as “very bad and vulnerable.” Ukrainian leaders rejected the characterization as false.
First contact
Shyriaiev was already a decorated veteran of Ukraine’s fiercest recent battles when his unit crossed into Russia in the vanguard of the surprise Ukrainian August 2024 offensive into Kursk. One month later, he would be recognized as a “Hero of Ukraine” by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“At the very beginning, I had a skeptical view of this,” Shyriaiev said of the daring Kursk operation, which saw Kyiv’s forces seize nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory, initially stunning Russia’s military and embarrassing Putin.
“I am proud that we were the first to actually bring the fight to Russian soil,” Shyriaiev said of his regiment, which is made up of five battalions with a total strength of some 5,500 soldiers.
The theater became the first to which North Korean troops were deployed — a force of some 10,000 soldiers, according to the U.S. — dispatched by Pyongyang to aid Moscow’s embattled soldiers, marking a new level of North Korean involvement in the Kremlin’s 3-year-old war on its neighbor which began with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As one of the first Ukrainian units to push into Kursk, the 225th was also among the first to come up against North Korean soldiers. The experience gave Shyriaiev and his troops a rare level of insight into Pyongyang’s forces, he said.
Initially, North Korean soldiers were thrown into so-called “meat assaults,” Shyriaiev said, a term Ukrainian troops use to describe the poorly-supported and costly infantry wave attacks employed by Russian commanders throughout the war.
The North Koreans were guided only by limited training inside Russia and their nation’s experience of World War II- and Korean War-era combat. “This experience didn’t include the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, it didn’t include any kinds of modern tactics,” he said.
That lack of experience was reflected in heavy casualties, though exact estimates vary. British intelligence assessed that by March roughly 5,000 of the 11,000 North Korean troops deployed to fight Ukraine had been killed or wounded, with a third likely killed.
Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov — the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence — both said in February that North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in March that North Korean forces had suffered around 5,000 casualties, according to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea’s state media.
Shyriaiev’s 225th Regiment soon noticed that the North Koreans had adapted. “They were moving forward not as a company, but in small groups” using reconnaissance, grenade-dropping and first-person view attack drones, Shyriaiev said, recalling later battles to the south of the town of Sudzha.
“They were doing these assaults in small groups so that they would not suffer such large losses at once.”
The 225th’s experience is representative of the broader trajectory of North Korean combat performance in Kursk, Shyriaiev said, with North Koreans quickly becoming the leading element of Russia’s attacks.
“They were always used in assault, and the Russians are then used to secure the ground that the Koreans have taken,” he said.
“They are the best prepared in terms of their physical preparation,” Shyriaiev continued. “They are good marksmen. They are not afraid to engage drones — they are shooting down drones with guns. They do not leave their wounded behind. They always try to evacuate them.”
Where Russian forces are “being sent into battle under duress — as with a horsewhip,” Shyriaiev said, “Koreans are more devoted, and to die heroically on the field of battle is something that Korean soldiers are proud of.”
‘I do not feel pity’
Russia eventually succeeded in largely driving the Ukrainians out of Kursk last month.
Ukrainian troops were forced to hurriedly retreat from Sudzha after Russian and North Korean forces succeeded in breaking through Ukrainian lines, following weeks of increasingly strangling Ukraine’s supply route into the area. Ukraine now still holds a tiny sliver of Kursk, trying to prevent Russia from advancing into the Sumy region.
Ukrainian troops had to adapt to their new North Korean enemies, Shyriaiev said. “It is perfectly possible to fight them if you are prepared,” he said.
“You need to create obstacles for them. You need to create a minefield, and our guys need to be confident enough to go in and finish them after they have stepped on mines or have been hit by any type of artillery rounds which are supplied to us by our American partners.”
South Korean intelligence suggested last year that the families of troops dispatched to Russia had been put in isolation. A former North Korean soldier told ABC News he believes that few of Pyongyang’s forces had been captured while fighting against Ukraine because they are told their families will be executed if they are caught alive.
“If the soldiers are captured and tell information to the enemy, their families will be punished, go to a political prison camp, or worse, they will be executed in front of the people,” said another North Korean defector, Pak Yusung.
Shyriaiev said he was unmoved by any suggestion that the North Korean soldiers sent to Kursk were misled or coerced.
“I do not feel pity towards anyone who is waging war against my country,” he said. “North Koreans are enemies for me and they are the enemies of my country.”
“Also, I do not think that they don’t understand where they have found themselves,” Shyriaiev continued. “It’s impossible that they just don’t know, or are clueless about where they ended up.”
“I do not respect this adversary,” Shyriaiev said. “This is not some kind of a tournament or ceremonial fight between knights. This is a war, a war which is a painful burden for our land, for our families.”
‘Yearning for peace’
Whether waged by Russians or North Koreans, Shyriaiev said he believes the war will drag on despite U.S.-led peace efforts.
“All of us are, of course, yearning for peace,” he said. “But when people begin to talk about loss of territories, this is a very painful, very sensitive issue.”
Ukrainians should consider a ceasefire an opportunity to “prepare for the continuation of a fight, because with this kind of a neighbor, we need to constantly be on guard,” Shyriaiev continued. “We know that Russia is a country that never, never keeps its promises. It is a neighbor that is always a threat that has always aimed to suppress us and to conquer us.”
Moscow has framed its ongoing invasion — plus decades of influence operations and, since 2014, cross-border military action — as a pre-emptive measure to forestall combined Ukrainian-NATO aggression against Russia. The “special military operation,” as the Kremlin termed the invasion, was launched “to defend ourselves from the threats created for us,” Putin said as the attack began.
While Trump’s administration pushes Ukraine to cede land, Shyriaiev suggested that the existential threat posed by Moscow necessitates the recovery of all land within Ukraine’s 1991 internationally-recognized borders — including Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.
“We need to never forget this experience,” he said. “We need to know that at any moment, Russia can attack again. And we need to be prepared.”
