Kyiv [Ukraine], November 15 (ANI): The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops have engaged in 256 'combat clashes' with invading Russian troops, Al Jazeera reported.

Over 100 of those gun battles took place in eastern Ukraine's Pokrovsk, which Russia views as a gateway to the remaining unoccupied parts of Donetsk.

Significant fighting also took place around Slovyansk, Lymanske, Kostyantynivka, Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole, it added, as per Al Jazeera.

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The Russian Defence Ministry has accused Ukraine of hitting civilian facilities and claimed its deadly overnight strike on Kyiv and elsewhere came in response to that.

More than 60 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over the southern Krasnodar region that borders Crimea, according to the ministry. A total of 45 drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, deeper inside Russia, while another 19 were shot down over Crimea.

In Novorossiysk, a port city in the Krasnodar region, the attack damaged an oil depot at the Sheskharis transhipment complex, as well as unidentified 'coastal structures,' local authorities said.

According to Al Jazeera's sources, Sheskharis is one of the largest oil loading complexes for the transhipment of oil and oil products in the south of Russia.

Falling drone debris also damaged a civilian vessel in the port, and three crew members were hospitalised with injuries. Several residential buildings were also damaged, and a man from one of those buildings was hospitalised with injuries, officials said, as reported by Al Jazeera.

North Korean troops who helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region are now playing an important role in clearing the area of mines.

Russian military news outlet Krasnaya Zvezda reported Russian and North Korean soldiers are dealing with a 'previously unseen density' of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines left behind by Ukrainian forces in Kursk. It said many of the devices were manufactured by NATO countries, as per Al Jazeera.

Video published by the Russian Defence Ministry showed North Korean troops being shown different types of mines and detection equipment, taking part in training exercises, and singing patriotic songs.

'They're great lads, they learn quickly, listen attentively and take notes,' said a Russian commander with the call sign 'Veles'.

Russia's Defence Ministry say under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea last year sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk, and more than 6,000 were killed, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)