North Korean troops withdraw after losses, report Ukraine

North Korean troops withdraw after losses, report Ukraine

In the Ukrainian city of Kiev, military officers report that the North Korean troops have not been spotted at the front lines in the Russian region of Kursk for several weeks. According to an official announcement by the Ukrainian armed forces, this could indicate considerable losses of these troops.

withdrawal of the North Korean troops

"The presence of DPRK troops has not been observed for about three weeks, and they were probably forced to withdraw after they had suffered serious losses," said Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian special operating forces, to CNN. This follows reports that some North Korean units have been withdrawn from the front lines after significant losses have been reported.

numbers and losses

Current situation in Kursk

"We are still in the Kursk region ... The Russian armed forces were not sufficient to drive us out," said Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj in a speech in Davos, Switzerland last week. Selenskyj pointed out that 60,000 Russian soldiers and 12,000 North Koreans were in Kursk. He also mentioned that a third of the North Korean troops had fallen.

tactics of the North Korean soldiers

Earlier reports on the brutal and partly suicidal tactics of North Korean soldiers describe that in some cases they detonated grenades in order not to be captured by Ukrainian forces. They also wrote to Kim Jong Un on the Battlefield of allegiance, the highest leader in North Korea.

training and commitment of the North Korean soldiers

A commander of the 6th regiment of the special operating forces, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, said that the North Korean soldiers were "all young, well trained and tough fighters", but were not previously confronted with drones in conflicts. "In the best case, they are prepared for the 1980 war reality," he said. Another soldier of a battalion reported that the North Koreans had shown good shooting capacity when shooting drones from about 100 meters away, which indicates a high level of training in North Korea.

Current developments in the region

Despite the considerable losses in Kursk, Russia seems to use these troops as foot soldiers in order to carry out mass ground attacks. According to an update by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukraine recently made progress in the region. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian armed forces had recaptured the village of Nikolayevo-Daryino in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine last week.

official confirmation from Moscow and Pyongyang is missing

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have officially confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. Last year, months before the posting of the North Korean soldiers, Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a comprehensive defense agreement and undertook to use all available funds to provide military support in the event of an attack.

a new era of military cooperation

This agreement represents the most important agreement that Russia and North Korea have signed for decades, and is regarded as a revival of mutual defense from the Cold War.

This report is based on sources from CNN, including Nick Paton Walsh, Rebecca Wright, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Brice Laine and Helen Regan.