The White House confirmed on Monday the data with which Ukraine has been warning its allies for two weeks of the new phase in which the war has entered. Some 10,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia receiving training to soon enter combat in the Russian Kursk region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an incursion into this border territory in August, where they still maintain a presence in the province of Sudzha. The Kremlin has agreed with the North Korean regime that its troops reinforce the liberation of Kursk to avoid transferring part of the Russian soldiers destined for the invasion of eastern Ukrainian territory. This eventual entry into combat for the first time of North Korean forces on the Russian side reinforces Moscow in the war against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, already warned on October 17 in a meeting in Brussels that there were 10,000 North Korean soldiers who, according to his intelligence services, were being trained in Russia to take part in the fight in Kursk. The Ukrainian president, in need of greater support from his NATO partners, stressed that this Russian-North Korean alliance is “the first step towards a world war.”
Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokesperson, reported this Monday that “in the coming weeks” the North Korean units will be in service in this Russian region. An officer of the Ukrainian Armed Forces assured Morning Express on October 26, during a visit to the rear of the operation in Kursk, that Ukrainian artillery has already hit buildings where it is believed that there were North Korean soldiers. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also noted this Monday that Pyongyang soldiers are already in Kursk.
The American newspaper The New York TimesIt was announced on October 25 that US government officials assume that there are already 5,000 North Korean soldiers in this disputed region. None of the infantry units fighting in Kursk consulted by this newspaper have had visual proof of North Korean soldiers fighting on the front. The intelligence services of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (GUR) pointed out the same thing in a statement on October 24.
The Ukrainian General Staff estimates that Russia has assigned 40,000 soldiers to the Kursk defense. North Korean incorporation would mean increasing the human resources of the Russian army in its province by 25%, allowing more experienced Russian troops to continue fighting in other sectors of the war. Sources from the 95th Ukrainian Airborne Brigade explained on Saturday that half of the Russian fighters in Kursk are recent recruits, with much less experience than the Ukrainian soldiers—components of the best brigades in their army—which allows them to win more easily. positions. These soldiers from the 95th Brigade assume that the North Koreans, if they finally have to fight and not carry out other logistical tasks, will not be prepared to put up a good fight.
The GUR on Sunday published radio messages intercepted by the Russian army in Kursk revealing that North Korean soldiers were being transported in civilian trucks to join the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade. This regiment is fighting on the front line in Kursk.
This October, the Russian parliament ratified the defense cooperation treaty that the Russian and North Korean leaders, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un, agreed to develop last June. This document indicates that both States agree to support each other militarily in the event that they are invaded by other countries. Moscow has since received millions of tons of North Korean artillery ammunition that is key to its advance in Donetsk province.
Now Russia will receive assistance with thousands of North Korean men. The incorporation of new troops is precisely what Ukraine needs most, at a time when there are no more civilians willing to join the ranks to replace the tens of thousands of casualties it has accumulated since the beginning of the invasion, in February 2022.
