Vladimir Putin and Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico in the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, December 22, 2024

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelensky Meets CIA Director Burns

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1645 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says more than 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed or injured fighting alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region in western Russia.

Earlier today, South Korean intelligence put the number of North Korea casualties at 1,100 of the approximately 11,000 troops deployed.

Zelensky echoed the South Korean assessment that North Korea is preparing to deploy additional troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones, for Russia’s invasion (see 0825 GMT).

“There are risks of North Korea sending additional soldiers and military equipment to the Russian army, and we will have tangible responses to this,” he said.

Analyzing satellite imagery, the Wall Street Journal said North Korea is preparing to supply more arms to Russia, beyond around 20,000 containers it had already sent.

South Korean officials said around 200 munitions factories in North Korea are running at full capacity to produce weapons, with Russia providing fuel and equipment to Pyongyang for the production.

In return for arms and ammunition sent to Russia, North Korea may have received as much as $5.5 billion, said one analyst.

UPDATE 1625 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on Vladimir Putin’s hosting of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico in Moscow.

Nothing that the two men did not speak publicly, he said, “They are afraid of the public’s reaction.”

Moscow provides significant discounts to Fico, but Slovakia pays for them. Such discounts are not free—payments to Russia are made through sovereignty or murky schemes. This should be a matter of concern for Slovakia’s law enforcement and special services.

Details about such financing were revealed during a recent meeting of European leaders in Brussels. Leaders observed that Mr. Fico does not want to participate in the common European work on energy independence or seek replacement for Russian gas, but rather wants to assist Russia in pushing American gas and energy resources of other partners away from Europe, implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe.

“Such assistance to Putin is immoral,” Zelensky assessed.

He noted that Fico had refused compensation for the loss of Russian gas through a transit agreement with Ukraine which ends on December 31.

Instead, Fico was assisted the $500 million profit from the transit, Zelensky said.

That is why his key goal is to deal with Russia, and this is what benefits him. This is indeed a big security issue — both for Slovakia and the entire Europe. Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him?

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský posted, “It was the Czech government that secured independence from Russian energy supplies so that we don’t have to grovel before a mass murderer.”

UPDATE 1308 GMT:

Switzerland adopted the latest European Union sanctions on Russia and Belarus, a week after the EU targeted Moscow’s vessels and Chinese entities found to have traded with the Russian military.

The Swiss government listed 54 individuals and 30 companies and organizations, freezing their assets, and banned 52 ships from providing services.

“These are mainly tankers that are part of Russia’s shadow fleet and are circumventing the price cap on Russian crude oil and petroleum products or transporting military goods for Russia or stolen grain from Ukraine,” the Swiss Government said.

Switzerland also adopted financial and travel sanctions against 26 individuals and two organisations from Belarus.

UPDATE 0935 GMT:

Fire has destroyed a warehouse with parts for Iran-type attack drones in the Alabuga economic zone in Tatarstan in Russia, say Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR.

Without claiming responsibility for an attack, the HUR said, “The mysterious devastating fire delivered another blow to the military-industrial complex of terrorist Russia.”

The premises, worth $16 million, had 65 drone fuselages, as well as engines, navigation systems, and thermal imaging cameras for the production of 400 Shahed-136 UAVs.

UPDATE 0914 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 47 Russian attacks drones overnight, while 25 decoy drones were lost to electronic counter-measures.

UPDATE 0825 GMT:

South Korea’s military says North Korea is preparing to deploy additional troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones, for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said:

A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops (in Russia), while currently supplying 240-millimeter rocket launchers and 170-millimeter self-propelled artillery.

There are also some signs of [North Korea] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first unveiled during [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un’s on-site inspection in November.

South Korean, Ukrainian, and US intelligence estimate that around 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed alongside Russian units. Most are in the Kursk region of western Russia, part of which has been held by Ukraine since August 6.

A US official said earlier this month that the North Koreans have suffered “several hundred” casualties from deaths to light wounds.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimates around 1,100 “military casualties”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Prime Minister of Slovakia, a member of NATO and the European Union, visited Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Sunday.

Fico has often supported Putin’s lines, before and during Russia’s 34-month invasion of Ukraine. He has ended Slovakian military aid for Kyiv, denounced EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO.

The Prime Minister’s trip may have been prompted by the imminent expiration of a contract for Russian gas, supplying Slovakia, to transit through Ukraine. Fico has criticized Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to extend the five-year agreement beyond December 31.

Earlier this year Bratislava struck a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through a pipeline from Poland. Last month it signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan. Slovakia can also receive gas through Austrian, Hungarian, and Czech networks.

The Prime Minister posted on Facebook after the Kremlin meeting:

Russian President V Putin confirmed the readiness of the (Russian Federation) to continue to supply gas to the west and Slovakia, which is practically impossible after 1 January, 2025, in view of the stance of the Ukrainian president.

He added that he and Putin “exchanged views on the military situation in Ukraine, the possibilities of an early peaceful end of the war, and on the mutual relations between [Slovakia and Russia], which I intend to standardize.

The Kremlin gave no details, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sayingly that Fico was on a “working visit”.

Fico is the third EU leader, after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, to meet with Putin during the invasion.