A North Korean M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzer has allegedly been spotted on Russia’s front lines, according to reports on Tuesday after news regarding the shipment of two of the big guns was first reported in November.

The artillery weapon has a reported range of up to 37 miles when employing rocket-assisted shells and is capable of firing between one and two shells every five minutes. 

News of the weaponry, along with a video apparently showing one of the howitzers in a combat location, was first reported by East 2 West news, and images of the howitzer popped up on social media, though Fox News Digital could not independently verify the location of the weapon.

Moscow, according to a Tuesday BBC report, alleged that at least 49,000 Ukrainian troops had been lost, though it has not differentiated between the number of Ukrainians wounded or killed.

Fox News Digital has not been able to independently verify either nation’s casualty reports. 

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed on Monday that Ukrainian forces made “tactical advances amid continued intensified offensive operations” in Kursk. 

“Ukrainian forces may be continuing to conduct long-range strikes against Russian rear areas in Kursk Oblast as part of efforts to use integrated strike capabilities to support ground operations,” the think tank added. 

Russian forces continued limited ground operations towards the city of Kharkiv in northern Ukraine on Sunday and Monday, but reportedly saw little advances – an operation Ukraine has in large part successfully countered since May.  

Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, Oleh Synehubov, said on Monday that Ukraine’s recent offensive operations in Kursk have been able to reduce the number of Russian ground attacks in northern Kharkiv Oblast, reported the ISW.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, meets soldiers who took part in a training in North Korea, on March 13, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Reports on Monday suggested that Russian forces had made some advances in Donetsk and had captured Kurakhove, a front-line town in the Donbas region. The seizure of this town could indicate Russian forces are closing in on Ukrainian troops, who have been hammered for months looking to stop Russian forces from encircling the town of Pokrovsk, and which could give Russian forces a strategic win and access to supply routes connecting the area to Zaporizhzhia. 

Ukraine has not officially confirmed whether Kurakhove has fallen.

Russian forces are not assessed to have made any strategic advances along other front-line areas at this time.