Washington [US], December 18: Reuters on December 17 quoted a source confirming that NATO had just taken over the coordination of Western military aid to Ukraine from the US as planned.
The headquarters of NATO 's new mission coordinating military aid to Ukraine, called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is located at Clay Barracks, a US base in the German town of Wiesbaden, according to Reuters
NATO's SHAPE military headquarters said the Ukrainian mission is starting to take over responsibilities from the US and international organizations.
"The work of NSATU... is designed to put Ukraine in a position of strength that will help NATO keep a billion people in Europe and North America safe and prosperous," said NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, US General Christopher G. Cavoli.
Previously, the US-led Ramstein Group coordinated Western military supplies to Kyiv. The Ramstein Group is an ad hoc alliance of about 50 countries named after a US air base in Germany where it first met.
Taking on the 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 handing over coordination to NATO could have limited impact because the US under President-elect Donald Trump could cut back on support for Ukraine, while the US leads NATO and provides the bulk of Ukraine's weapons.
President-elect Trump, who takes office next month, has said he wants to end the conflict in Ukraine quickly, but has not said how. Mr Trump has long been critical of the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden is trying to ship as much weaponry as possible to Kyiv amid concerns that Mr Trump could 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 Ukrainian troops in Russia 's Kursk province , according to AFP.
"Our latest estimate is a few hundred casualties suffered by the DPRK," said the US official, who did not want to be identified. "These are not combat-hardened soldiers. They have never been in combat before," the official commented, adding that this may have contributed to "why they suffered the casualties they did at the hands of the Ukrainians."
Earlier, Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that Russia had used North Korean soldiers as the center of a "heavy attack" in Kursk for several days.
There is currently no information about the reaction of Russia or North Korea to the US official's casualty estimate as well as Mr. Syrsky's statement.
Several 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 against Ukrainian troops in the province.
Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. Pyongyang initially denied sending troops to Russia, but a North Korean official later said the deployment would be legal, according to Reuters.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper