Ukraine’s military intelligence and the Pentagon have said that Ukrainian troops have killed and injured a number of North Korean troops fighting alongside 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 suffered “significant losses” with “at least 30 soldiers” killed and wounded in the Kursk region, near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorobzha and Martynovka.
Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, Pentagon spokesperson Major-General Pat Ryder backed up the Ukrainian Army’s claim, saying that the United States had found “indications” North Korean troops had been “killed and injured” in combat in Kursk.
The Kremlin, which rarely provides details on casualties among its troops and those of its allies, directed a request for comment from the Associated Press news agency to the Russian Ministry of Defence, which did not immediately reply.
According to South Korean, US 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 of the North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, which has been under partial Ukrainian control since Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russian territory in August.
Analysts say the North Korean troops 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, the two countries have openly deepened their military ties in recent months.
A landmark mutual defence treaty, first signed in Pyongyang on June 19 during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lavish state visit, obliges both countries to provide immediate military assistance to each other using “all means” necessary if either faces “aggression”.
