Ukraine's Defense Ministry: Russia has recruited more than 1,000 Syrian mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.

The Air Force said Russia launched 108 drones against Ukraine overnight, of which it reported downing 82.

HUR's claimed figure surpasses the previous South Korean and British intelligence assessment, which estimated a total of about 6,000 casualties for North Korean troops, both killed and injured, in Kursk Oblast.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping described Belarus-China relations as being at a "historic peak" and called the two countries "iron friends."

The number includes 1,230 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Zaporizhzhia regional police later reported that a commander of a military unit had been found dead with a gunshot wound, without naming the brigade commander specifically.

"Unfortunately, there are still lines at gas stations, and the right grade of gasoline isn't always available," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The fatalities included a 53-year-old woman, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Speaking at a congress of the ruling United Russia party, Putin said the West had failed to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" and was therefore trying to "stir up the political situation and sow internal unrest."

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, Kateryna Denisova examines how Ukraine's attitudes toward LGBTQ people have changed — and why the country's laws have struggled to keep pace.

President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed erecting a monument to Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa on the site where a statue of Vladimir Lenin was toppled during the EuroMaidan Revolution in Kyiv, calling it a step toward restoring "historical justice."

Kyiv has been deepening security partnerships across the Gulf region, offering to bolster local defenses against Iranian drones.

Photos and videos posted to social media purport to show large flames and plumes of smoke emanating from what appears to be storage tanks at the Slavyansk refinery.

Ukraine's Air Force said it intercepted all six Iskander-M ballistic missiles, one of the two Zircon hypersonic missiles or Onyx missiles, and 125 of the 142 drones launched by Russia overnight.

"If the 'Spirit of Anchorage' even existed, it is certainly dead now," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, mocking Russia's claims about an "understanding" reached during last year's summit with the U.S. in Alaska.