Russian front lines reportedly host Kim Jong Un's large artillery pieces, according to a report.

Russia's Kursk campaign sees tactical advances for Ukraine, while Moscow claims to have secured a front-line town in Donbas.

Russian front lines reportedly host Kim Jong Un's large artillery pieces, according to a report.
Russian front lines reportedly host Kim Jong Un's large artillery pieces, according to a report.

According to reports on Tuesday, a North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer was allegedly spotted on Russia's front lines, following the shipment of two of the big guns in November.

The artillery weapon can fire up to two shells every five minutes and has a range of up to 37 miles when using rocket-assisted shells.

A video of a howitzer in a combat location was first reported by East 2 West news, and images of the howitzer were shared on social media. However, Planet Chronicle Digital could not confirm the location of the weapon.

North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer
A North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer was spotted on Russia's front lines on Jan. 7, 2025 after first being spotted being transported by rail in November 2024. (Image provided by East 2 West)

In November, open-source intelligence revealed that the howitzers were traced and discovered to have been traveling through Siberia by train just a month after the US confirmed that North Korea had deployed up to 12,000 soldiers to Russia, and five months after Pyongyang and Moscow signed a defensive treaty promising to militarily support each other.

The video of the North Korean big gun may have been filmed in Russia's Kursk region, where Pyongyang's soldiers were sent to counter Ukraine's incursion, which began in August.

Kim Jong Un missile test
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, supervises artillery firing drills in North Korea on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

In the region, both Ukraine and Russia have suffered significant losses, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stating in a Sunday interview that approximately 3,800 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured.

Over the past five months, the Ukrainian military reported that approximately 38,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured in Kursk.

Kursk
A view of the trench built to create a defensive line around Sumy as seen in Sumy, Ukraine, on Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Oksana Parafeniuk for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

According to a Tuesday BBC report, at least 49,000 Ukrainian troops have been lost, although it is unclear whether this includes those who were wounded or killed.

Neither nation's casualty reports have been independently verified by Planet Chronicle Digital.

On Monday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukrainian forces made "tactical advances" while continuing "intensified offensive operations" in Kursk.

The think tank stated that Ukrainian forces may still be carrying out long-range strikes against Russian rear areas in Kursk Oblast in an attempt to enhance their integrated strike capabilities to aid ground operations.

On Sunday and Monday, Russian forces carried out limited ground operations towards Kharkiv in northern Ukraine, but reportedly made little progress. Ukraine has largely countered this operation since May.

Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, stated on Monday that Ukraine's recent offensive operations in Kursk have decreased the number of Russian ground attacks in northern Kharkiv Oblast, according to the ISW.

North Korea soldiers
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, meets soldiers who took part in a training in North Korea, on March 13, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

On Monday, reports indicated that Russian forces had gained ground in Donetsk and seized Kurakhove, a key town in the Donbas region. The capture of this town could signal that Russian forces are getting closer to Ukrainian troops, who have been fighting for months to prevent Russian forces from surrounding the town of Pokrovsk. This could give Russian forces a strategic advantage and access to supply routes linking the region to Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine has not officially confirmed whether Kurakhove has fallen.

Currently, it is reported that Russian forces have not made any strategic advances in other front-line regions.

by Caitlin McFall

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