Russia and Ukraine Fight Inside Kursk, With Waves of Tanks, Drones and North Koreans

Five months after Ukrainian forces invaded the border in Russia’s first global offensive since World War II, the two armies are engaged in some of the fiercest clashes of the war there, fighting for land and power in the conflict.

The intensification of the fighting recalls the worst sieges in eastern Ukraine three years ago, including in towns like Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the names of which now evoke memories of mass killings of soldiers on both sides.

The war, in Russia’s Kursk region, has taken on an important layer for the region to play a role in any talks to end the war. Faced with the prospect of an unpredictable new US president – who has vowed to end the war quickly, without specifying terms – Ukraine is hoping to use Russia’s territory as a bargaining chip.

Russia, relying on the strengthening of North Korea, hopes to take that area out of Ukraine’s hands.

“Here, the Russians need to take this field at any cost, and pour all their strength into it, while we do everything we have to hold it,” said Sgt. Oleksandr, 46, leader of a Ukrainian military group. “We’re still holding on, destroying, destroying, destroying – so much so that it’s hard to even understand.”

He and the other soldiers, who asked to be identified only by their first name or call sign in accordance with military protocol, said the waves of attacks on North Korean troops have made the fighting worse than before.

“The situation got worse when the North Koreans started arriving,” said Jr. Sgt. Oleksii, 30, the leader of the group. “They pressured our flanks in mass, found weak points and broke them.”

Russia, with the help of an estimated 12,000 North Koreans, has recaptured nearly half of the territory lost over the summer. Its attacks in the past week have taken a heavy toll on the territory controlled by Ukraine.

But Ukrainian forces have also attacked in recent days, seeking to secure the area west of Sudzha, a Russian town about six kilometers from the border that has become an anchor for Ukrainian forces, occupying about 200 square kilometers in August. .

“If they continue to press us and we don’t back down, the enemy will feel superior,” said Andrii, 44, an intelligence officer. “When someone keeps hitting you, and you don’t retaliate, the attacker will feel psychologically relaxed, even free.”

The Russians have largely repelled the attack, but fighting continues and the situation remains unpredictable, the military said.

The intensity of the fighting can be seen on the road approaching the Russian border: A steady stream of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles rolled past broken machinery and detonated.

Russian bombs and rockets exploded in border towns, and Ukrainian missiles could be seen flying across the sky in the opposite direction.

Tens of thousands of drones hunt targets, too. They have changed the battlefield, although Ukraine has improved its electronic warfare capabilities, reducing the effectiveness of drones that rely on radio signals. Russia has now filled the theater with drones guided by ultrathin fiber-optic cables, with a flying range of more than 10 miles.

The best current defense against them is a gun, says the Ukrainian military.

The renewed war is in the face of a deeply uncertain political environment. The US president-elect, Donald J. Trump, spent months on the campaign trail questioning US military assistance in Ukraine. He said he wants to end this war as soon as possible, but he has not said how.

Russian forces have been on the offensive for more than a year in eastern Ukraine, making steady advances despite staggering losses.

With its entry, Ukraine aims to create a buffer zone to protect hundreds of thousands of citizens in the city of Sumy, less than 20 miles from the border with Russia. Ukraine also wants to reduce pressure on the east by returning Russians to their country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the campaign sent a strong message to the world that Ukraine can do more than play defense.

“It’s one of our trucks, I think one of the biggest trucks, not just last year, but during the war,” said Mr. Zelensky on Thursday in Germany, when he met with representatives of nations that provide military assistance to Ukraine.

Still, some military analysts have warned that Ukraine’s Kursk campaign could leave its forces stretched and losing ground in its eastern Donbas region.

Many soldiers who fought in Kursk believe that the painful losses in eastern Ukraine would have been worse without their campaign.

“We have to understand that the Russians are using their best soldiers and best defenses in this area,” said Captain Oleksandr Shyrshyn, 30, commander of the 47th Mechanized Brigade. “If we think about what they might be doing in other parts of Ukraine, it’s good.”

He was still reeling from the battle, a few days before, to fend off a major Russian invasion.

The Russians attacked Ukrainian positions in six waves, using more than 50 tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles.

While scores of enemy soldiers were killed and wounded and scores of Russian equipment destroyed, Captain Shyrshyn said, the Russians advanced several miles.

“When the first wave comes, we focus on it, we deal with it, and then the next one follows,” he said. There is no time to redirect weapons or other resources as the next wave moves in from a different line of attack.

“We are lagging behind,” he said. “Then the next wave comes, and one of them is able to reach the required stage and fulfill his mission.”

It remains difficult, he said, to see how many in the West view the war in Ukraine as a video game and refuse to see the threat Russia poses to the world.

He acknowledged the decline in Ukraine’s morale in the nearly three years of war, but said many soldiers still understood why they had to fight. “Standing will mean our death, that’s all,” he said.

North Korea’s entry into the war, some Ukrainian soldiers say, should shock European countries and their allies.

North Korean soldiers have fought as dignified, dedicated and fearless troops, often marching in large groups on foot, even through bomb sites while firing heavy artillery and being followed by drones. Ukrainian authorities on Saturday said their forces had captured two North Korean soldiers and they were the first to be taken alive so far.

Sgt. Oleksandr, the group’s leader, said the massacre in Kursk was as frightening as anything he had seen since joining the army in 2014.

“You look and you cannot fully understand where you are, you see every day how many people we destroy,” he said.

He compared it to Bakhmut, where machine gunners had to be replaced frequently because they could not keep up with the speed of killing. “After two hours they put so many people to sleep, they couldn’t take it mentally,” he said.

“It’s the same here now,” he said, sharing a cell phone video showing the aftermath of a recent assault. The field was littered with corpses, torn and twisted and piled up in a way that made it difficult to count the dead.

“The worst part is walking,” he said. “If you sit there, and they come to you, and everything flies to you.”

Anastasia Kuznetsova reporting contributed.