Victory Chronicles-DAY 967

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia intends to involve around 10,000 soldiers from North Korea in the war against Ukraine. 

Zelenskyy stated that there is intelligence suggesting that North Korean officers are already in the occupied territories of Ukraine, training alongside Russian soldiers. He mentioned that Russia is seeking external support because it is struggling to keep up with mobilization and is losing significant numbers of soldiers in battle. 

Zelenskyy expressed concern that this involvement of another country in the war signifies an official confirmation that Russia will have a contingent fighting alongside them against Ukraine. He emphasized the urgency of this situation and the need for a reaction from Ukraine’s partners, as he considers it a serious step.

President Biden has allocated $425 million for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, which includes ammunition, armored vehicles, and other weapons. This decision comes as Biden prepares to travel to Germany to celebrate the united front of Western allies. During his trip, Biden will emphasize the importance of alliances and remind the world of this just before the US presidential election. 

In the Sumy region of Ukraine, a fire brigade was attacked by Russian occupiers while extinguishing a fire in a residential area. The shelling damaged a fire truck. The incident occurred in one of the settlements of the Shostka district, where the shelling caused a fire in a car, which then spread to a neighboring residential building. As the firefighters were working at the scene, they came under enemy fire again, damaging their vehicle. Luckily, the firefighters were able to find shelter and none of them were injured. Once it was safe, they were able to successfully extinguish the fire. 

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has released a video showcasing the operation of the IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system. This system is crucial in helping Ukrainian defenders effectively shoot down challenging Russian targets. The inclusion of the NASAMS and IRIS-T medium-range air defense missile systems from the West marks a significant step in safeguarding Ukraine’s critical infrastructure against large-scale Russian attacks. The Air Force currently has multiple NASAMS and IRIS-T batteries in operation, gradually replacing outdated Soviet-made air defense systems. The IRIS-T, a high-quality German-made system, possesses the capability to destroy all aerodynamic targets within a 40-kilometer radius.

Medium- to long-term constraints on Russian force-generation capacity and Russian military-industrial production will undermine Russia’s ability to support consistent offensive operations that seek to protract the war and overwhelm Ukraine through attrition. 

ISW has observed a steady widespread increase in financial incentives that Russian authorities are offering for concluding a military contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), suggesting that Russia is exhausting recruitment pools of willing volunteers. Russian authorities have reportedly expressed concerns that ongoing recruitment efforts are producing diminishing results, and Putin remains committed to avoiding another partial mobilization call-up of reservists despite growing signs of force-generation constraints.

Putin retains the option to conduct another partial mobilization wave — as he did in Fall 2022 — but will likely only do so under immense pressure or once the ongoing crypto-mobilization campaign seriously fails. Russian offensive operations in Ukraine have resulted in pronounced equipment losses, particularly for armored vehicles, and Russian military industrial production capacity will likely fail to replace these losses in the medium- to long-term. Russia currently relies on refurbishing a large but finite stock of Soviet-era equipment to replace its outsized losses in Ukraine and appears to be depleting stockpiles at an increased rate.

Russia is leveraging partnerships with North Korea and Iran to acquire ammunition and military equipment and is engaging with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to acquire critical components for defense production, but these international procurement efforts will not address all the Russian materiel requirements in Ukraine.

Putin appears just as reluctant to conduct a full-scale economic mobilization as he is to conduct another mobilization wave, and it remains unclear if critical bottlenecks and worsening labor shortages would even allow Russia to rapidly and fully mobilize its economy for the war effort in the event that Putin permitted it.

Yurii Lysiuk, with the call sign Lys, died on March 5, 2024, near the village of Illinka, Donetsk region. The fighter was fatally wounded while performing a combat mission. He would have turned 28 in May.

Yuriy was born in the village of Buryakivka, in the Zhytomyr region. After school, he received secondary specialized education at the Pulyn Professional Lyceum, where he received a degree in tractor driving. He worked at Zapovit as a sawyer. Since childhood, he was fond of football.

On February 24, 2022, on the first day of the full-scale invasion, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade as a driver. In May 2022, he was captured by the occupiers and spent 100 days there. After the exchange, he went back to the front.

For his service, he was awarded the “War Veteran” badge. “I am very proud of him, he is my Hero,” said Yana’s sister. The defender was buried in the village of Puliny, Zhytomyr region. Yurii is survived by his parents and sister.

*Yurii’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

• Biden seeks to shore up Ukraine aid, cement his legacy in Germany trip
• UK reveals its largest sanctions package yet against Russia’s shadow fleet
• Ukraine calls for sanctions over alleged North Korean involvement in war
• U.S. shifts Ukraine’s F-16 training to focus on younger pilots
• Putin’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet is spilling oil all over the world