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00:00The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says that his military's ongoing incursion into Russia's Kursk region is now holding down
00:0850,000 Russian troops. Zelensky saying that the operation reduces Russia's ability to fight on the front line in Ukraine.
00:15It comes though as Ukraine is gradually being pushed back along that front line of more than a thousand kilometers stretching its own troops as well.
00:24Zelensky continuing to insist though that the incursion can be used as a bargaining chip
00:28Amid fears as well though that North Korean troops could soon join the fight in Kursk.
00:34We're going to cross first of all live to Kyiv, talk to our Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Craig who joins us from there.
00:39Gulliver, Zelensky in his latest address still full of support for that Kursk incursion despite the critics.
00:47Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think he must feel that that's the only thing he can do if they plan to carry on fighting in Kursk region.
00:56Among those 50,000, I believe the Ukrainians claim that there are already those 10,000 North Korean forces though
01:02there are conflicting reports as to whether they've yet seen any action. Of course among the Russians
01:08there are members of the Buryat community who have Asian looks and so they could easily be mistaken for
01:16North Koreans. The thing is that the Russians, although they've deployed large
01:21quantities of men and materiel to this effort to retake that part of Kursk region that Ukraine has occupied,
01:29they haven't deployed their best forces. Absolutely the contrary. The reports coming in are that the
01:35Russians are taking absolutely huge losses as their attempts to move towards that key town of Suja
01:42in that area are being fought back by the Ukrainians and they're fighting according to
01:49old tactics, not the kinds of tactics I mean that were used early on in the invasion in 2022
01:57and many of the Russian brigades seem to have learned from those mistakes and stopped using
02:02those tactics and so the Ukrainians' analysis is that the Russians have got old generals in charge
02:07there and that they're absolutely not deploying their crack troops. Meanwhile Ukraine has got some
02:12of its absolute best forces engaged in defending Kursk region and that's one of the reasons why
02:19the whole operation is coming in for more and more criticism because clearly reinforcements
02:23are needed in the Donbass and probably those experienced and well-equipped units would be
02:29the best people to deploy there. Yeah let's talk then about the situation in Ukraine itself
02:34Vengulova. Front line on eastern Donetsk region fears over a dam that's been damaged there that
02:40could flood villages. Yes this is Kurakovo, this is the key hotspot at the moment in Donbass it's
02:49in the southern part of Donetsk region currently still in Ukrainian hands or at least most of it
02:54is but the Russians have reached the eastern edge of the city and also they're advancing to the south
03:00of it with a very real risk of surrounding it. Kurakovo's got a coal-fired power plant which is
03:06obviously out of action decommissioned has been for some time and its water supply comes from a
03:12reservoir that is held in by a small dam which has apparently been damaged we don't know how
03:17or by whom but it means that the water level in the river west of there has risen significantly
03:23there haven't been any reports of major flooding though as yet this is not such a big reservoir
03:28it's nothing like the scale of the Khovka reservoir and the hydroelectric power plant dam
03:33that was blown up there by the Russians in 2023. It may be actually that the main effect of this is
03:39to turn the river which was more like a small stream before this damage occurred to the dam
03:46into something more like a river that is more of a barrier that could be a protective defense line
03:51for the Ukrainian forces located to the north of that river as the Russians who are trying to
03:56encircle Kurakovo from the south try to push north so it could end up being to the Ukrainians
04:01advantage though I stress there's no indication that that means the Ukrainians did it on purpose
04:06there's just intense fighting going on in that area the Russians pushing forward
04:11around Kurakovo as in many other parts of the Donbass.
04:15Gulliver thanks very much Gulliver Craig joining us live there from Kyiv.