South Korea considers soldiers captured in Kursk in early 2025 as its nationals, per its constitution. Seoul is open to accepting defectors, amid Kyiv's push for South Korean arms and EU pressure on Seoul to supply Ukraine.
Crimea declared an "emergency situation" due to fuel shortages and power cuts from Ukrainian aerial attacks. Russia reported shooting down 660 Ukrainian drones. Ukraine plans domestic AI computing capacity with Kyivstar, and both nations swapped 160 captured soldiers.
A captured Ukrainian serviceman, Sergey Belozyorov, claims the Skval and Skala separate assault regiments are widely resented in Ukraine due to alleged torture and heavy troop losses, with few soldiers returning from combat missions.
