Perhaps the hype, or “buzz,” as TASS called it, about North Korean troops allegedly in Russia is motivated by panic about Russian advances in both Kursk and the SMO zone. An Agence France-Presse analysis, based on data from the neocon Institute for the Study of War, has found that Russian forces advanced 478 sq km (184.5 square miles) into Ukrainian territory in October, more than any other month since the early weeks of the war. By Oct. 27, Russian forces had already surpassed the territory gained in either August or September 2024 (477 and 459 sq. km, respectively) following major shifts on the front line, in particular in eastern Ukraine around the city of Pokrovsk, it said. Two-thirds of the Russian gains, or 324 sq. km (125 square miles), were in the eastern Donetsk region. Moscow’s army is also gaining territory at the north of the front, having seized more than 40 sq. km (15.4 square miles) near Kupyansk, in the eastern part of the Kharkov region.
TASS cites Vladimir Rogov, head of the Civic Chamber Commission in Zaporozhye, reporting this morning that Russian forces have advanced a distance of 1 km along an 8-km front in the area of Orekhovo. “The situation is developing. The Russian Armed Forces have begun their attack on the flanks, with the support of tactical aircraft and heavy weapons. Any Ukrainian achievements of the last year’s counteroffensive are not simply lost, rather further liberation is taking place,” Rogov stressed.
