Ukraine said on Monday that its forces have killed at least 30 North Korean soldiers deployed by Russia to the western Kursk region, an area where Ukrainian troops have recently regained territory.
Thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to bolster Russian forces, especially in the Kursk border area, where Russia has been trying to regain land it lost during a surprise offensive by Ukrainian troops earlier this summer.
According to Ukraine’s military intelligence, significant losses were recorded on December 14 and 15 near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba, and Martynovka, with at least 30 North Korean soldiers either killed or wounded. The report added that these units are being reinforced with new personnel from North Korea, which, according to Western officials, has sent at least 10,000 troops to support Moscow.
Military cooperation between Russia and North Korea has deepened since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russia is mobilizing a “noticeable number” of North Korean soldiers in attacks seeking to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region. He said North Koreans are being incorporated into combined units for operations in the area, which Ukraine invaded in August.
Zelensky also mentioned that North Korean forces might be utilized in other sectors along the front line, with noticeable losses already reported among these troops. Last week, Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had recaptured several small settlements in the Kursk region. But a source from the Ukrainian army recently told AFP that Kyiv controls around 800 square kilometers in the region, less than the 1,400 square kilometers it claimed earlier.
