Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in Russia's Kursk region and also increased pressure in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine's top army commander said on Tuesday.
As the war approaches its third year, Ukrainian troops are weary and outnumbered along the 1,170 kilometre (727 miles) frontline.
"For the third day the enemy is conducting intensive assaults in the Kursk region," Oleksandr Syrskyi told government and regional officials in an online speech. He added that Russia was "actively" using North Korean troops who were taking significant losses.
The Ukrainian military said in its daily report that the number of combat clashes in the Kursk direction grew to 68 in the past 24 hours, up from a daily tally of around 40 at the end of last week.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August but since then it has lost more than 40% of the territory it controlled there.
Military analysts say the incursion has extended an already long front line, adding more strain on the Ukrainian troops.
Syrskyi said fighting was also escalating in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces were advancing at their fastest pace this year. He told government and regional officials that Russian troops continued to focus their assaults on the strategic cities of Pokrovsk and Kurahove.
The escalation in fighting comes ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House next month. Trump said on Monday that Ukraine should be prepared to make a deal with Russia to bring the nearly three-year-old war to an end.
