North Korean soldiers reported killed fighting with Russia in Ukraine russia-ukraine war news
Russia and North Korea have not commented on Ukraine’s claim that about 30 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in the fighting.
Ukrainian military intelligence and the Pentagon have said that Ukrainian troops have killed and wounded several North Korean soldiers while fighting with Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as GUR, said on Monday that North Korean army units had killed and wounded “at least 30 soldiers” in the Kursk region near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorobzha and Martynovka. There has been “significant damage”.
“Also in the area of the village of Kurilovka, at least three North Korean soldiers went missing,” the GUR said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel on Monday.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, DC, Pentagon spokesman Major-General Pat Ryder supported the Ukrainian military’s claim, saying that the United States had received “indications” that North Korean soldiers “were killed and Were injured.
The Kremlin, which rarely provides details about casualties among its troops and its allies, referred a request for comment from the Associated Press news agency to the Russian Defense Ministry, which did not immediately respond.
According to South Korean, American and Ukrainian intelligence, an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia to fight on the front lines against Ukrainian forces.
Most North Korean troops are deployed in Russia’s Kursk region, which is partly under Ukrainian control after a surprise incursion into the Russian region of Kiev in August.
Analysts say North Korean soldiers face potential challenges including a lack of combat experience and language barriers. Their reported deployment has not been officially acknowledged by Pyongyang or Moscow, however, both countries have openly deepened their military ties in recent months.
A historic mutual defense treaty, first signed in Pyongyang on June 19 during a grand state visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin, allows both countries to provide immediate military assistance to each other using “all means” necessary if they face “aggression”. forces to do.
Russia relies on foreign fighters to increase numbers
As Russia’s war on Ukraine escalates, Moscow is reportedly relying on deception tactics to recruit foreign fighters to boost its numbers on the front lines as the number of troop deaths rises.
There have been reports that men from South Asian countries – including Nepal, India and Sri Lanka – who have gone to fight in the war as mercenaries have been sent straight to the front, as well as being deprived of their pay. Has been given. Earlier this year, Nepali men who spoke to Al Jazeera said they thought they would be used as backup because of their lack of military training, but they were pushed to the front lines.
Both Russia and Ukraine rarely provide specific details on the number of their troops killed or injured in combat since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Russian media outlet MediaZona reported in September that more than 71,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine had been identified and confirmed killed. The Ukrainian General Staff claimed that, as of 1 October, more than 654,000 Russian personnel had been killed in the war.
Russia’s Defense Ministry estimates that Kiev has lost about half a million soldiers, according to a report published in September by the RT news website.
