The headquarters of the new NATO mission in charge of coordinating military aid to Ukraine, called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is at Clay Barracks, a US base in German town of Wiesbaden, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian soldiers participate in an exercise in Chernihiv province (Ukraine) on November 22
NATO SHAPE military headquarters said the Ukrainian mission is starting to assume responsibility from the US and international organizations.
“NSATU’s work… is designed to put Ukraine in a strong position to help NATO keep one billion people in both Europe and North America safe and prosperous,” NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander said. , US General Christopher G. Cavoli, said.
Previously, the US-led Ramstein group coordinated Western military supplies to Kyiv. The Ramstein Group is a special alliance of about 50 countries named after the US air base in Germany where the group first met.
Accepting the above job gives NATO a more direct role in Ukraine while still not committing to deploying its own forces on the battlefield, according to Reuters.
However, diplomats say that transferring coordination work to NATO may have limited impact because the US under President-elect Donald Trump could cut support for Ukraine, while the US is leads NATO and supplies most of the weapons to Ukraine.
President-elect Trump, who takes office next month, has said he wants to end the conflict in Ukraine quickly, but has not specified how. Mr. Trump has long criticized the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden is trying to transport as many weapons as possible to Kyiv amid concerns that Mr. Trump may cut military aid to Ukraine.
US official: North Korean forces suffered casualties in Kursk
A senior US official said on December 17 that North Korean forces suffered “several hundred” casualties while fighting against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk province, according to AFP.
“Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that North Korea suffered,” said the US official, who did not want to be identified. “These are not combat-experienced soldiers. They have never participated in combat before,” the official commented, adding that this may have contributed to “the reason they suffered casualties.” like that at the hands of the Ukrainians”.
Earlier, Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that Russia had used North Korean soldiers at the center of a “fierce attack” in Kursk for several days.
There is currently no information on the reaction of Russia or North Korea to the US official’s casualty estimate as well as Mr. Syrsky’s statement.
A few months ago, Ukrainian and Western officials said that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers had gathered in Kursk, ready to support Russia’s efforts to fight Ukrainian troops in this province.
To date, Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia. Pyongyang initially denied sending troops to Russia, but a North Korean official later said that if the troop deployment took place, it would be a legal action, according to Reuters.
