Kyiv sees rising death toll from North Koreans fighting in Kursk

Olesia Safronova, Bloomberg News on Dec 16, 2024

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North Korean soldiers are starting to sustain heavy losses against Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia’s Kursk region as the Kremlin intensifies its campaign to regain control of the lost territory.

At least 30 North Korean soldiers were killed in three assaults on three villages in the region in the past two days, Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, known as HUR, said on Facebook on Monday.

In a separate post on Saturday, HUR said the language barrier between soldiers remains an obstacle with a friendly fire incident between Koreans and Chechen troops killing eight. The statements couldn’t be independently verified.

The assessment offers a rare glimpse into an increasingly fierce fighting in the area that borders Ukraine and was seized by its forces in a surprise offensive in August. Russia has deployed about 11,000 Korean servicemen on its territory, mainly in or around the Kursk region.

Moscow’s efforts have intensified in recent months, with Ukraine’s General Staff saying in its frontline update on Monday that 38 attacks had been repelled by Ukrainian troops in the region over the past day.

North Korean troops are key for Russia, providing a steady supply of manpower since their deployment in October. Ukrainian and western officials have described their appearance on the battlefield as a major escalation by Moscow.

Pyongyang is also believed to be ready to send Moscow thousands more soldiers as President Vladimir Putin seeks to press on in Ukraine without announcing another unpopular round of mobilization.

Prominent Ukrainian military watcher Yury Butusov said on Sunday that two Ukrainian assault brigades based near Sudzha, the largest town captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region, repelled a massive attack by North Korean troops operating with fire support from Russian army.

The troops suffered huge losses as they advanced without stopping or evacuating their wounded, he said. The tactics were reminiscent of the so-called “human waves” used by Pyongyang during the Korean War in early 1950s, he added. His claims couldn’t be independently verified.

Accordingly, North Korean troops are fighting in the highly contested area without the protection of armored vehicles, said Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian Center for Counter Propaganda, in a Telegram post on Monday. They are “used to storm narrow areas from several directions simultaneously,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signaled previously that the capture of the Kursk region was part of Kyiv’s plans to force Russia into peace talks.