23 Oct: Wiped out on day one. Ukrainians strike NK bases. - Reporting from Ukraine

Today there are a lot of updates from the Russian Federation.

Following heavy losses for modest territorial gains, Russian forces urgently needed to replenish their ranks. However, the Russian president rejected a new wave of mobilization, citing concerns over potential public unrest and a decline in popular support. Facing limited alternatives, Russia sought additional assistance from its ally North Korea, which had already supplied thousands of artillery shells and ballistic missiles. This time, the request was for manpower. Aware of the significant threat that an influx of fresh troops could pose on the frontlines, Ukraine's high command moved decisively to mitigate this emerging danger.

Over the past months, Russia has concentrated on engaging Ukrainian forces across multiple fronts to thin out their defenses and secure a key breakthrough. To bolster this effort, Russian forces opened a new front in the northern Kharkiv region in May. Nonetheless, this maneuver did not result in a major collapse of Ukrainian defenses. In a bold and unexpected move, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in Russia's Kursk region, compelling Moscow to redeploy some of its most experienced units from Eastern Ukraine, thereby deepening the urgent need for additional troops.

Although Russia possesses vast manpower reserves, maintaining the current rate of losses without initiating a new wave of mobilization is becoming increasingly untenable. The government has attempted to attract recruits by significantly raising financial incentives and focusing efforts on candidates from economically disadvantaged regions. However, these measures may prove insufficient to meet the demands. A large-scale mobilization risks triggering widespread public unrest, potentially destabilizing the country and emboldening factions eager to exploit growing anti-war sentiment to challenge the government's hold on power.

Recruiting foreign combatants is not new for the Russian military, but it has mostly been informal, with promises of high pay or Russian citizenship. This is changing due to the close relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Ukrainian officials recently warned of an agreement between the two nations, with military intelligence confirming that North Korean soldiers are already training in Russian camps, signaling their potential deployment.

Several Western leaders initially dismissed these claims, but the situation changed when South Korea’s National Intelligence Service publicly revealed that approximately 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including 1,500 special forces troops, had been transferred to Russian training facilities. South Korean intelligence, working in coordination with their Ukrainian counterparts, used facial recognition artificial intelligence to identify North Korean officers operating in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. In an official statement, they declared, "The direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, previously reported by foreign media, has now been officially confirmed."

The first video evidence confirming the presence of Korean units on Russian soil soon emerged from one of the training grounds, swiftly followed by footage showing them receiving equipment and Russian uniforms. These developments, along with numerous eyewitness reports connecting the presence of these troops to training facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, prompted a rapid response from the Ukrainian side.

Reports surfaced of a nighttime drone strike targeting the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School near the Russian capital, with residents sharing geolocated footage of the aftermath. Such military infrastructure deep inside Russia plays a crucial role in training newly arrived North Korean troops, making it an attractive target for Ukrainian precision strikes. Intelligence indicates that the 12,000 North Korean soldiers are dispersed across multiple sites, prompting Ukraine to broaden its strikes to include military facilities along the front line.

Ukrainian operators deployed Shark surveillance drones to monitor enemy activity, identifying soldiers conducting training exercises in open fields. Seizing the opportunity, they targeted the troops during these maneuvers. With drones in the sky relaying precise coordinates, a HIMARS strike was launched using rockets equipped with cluster...