NYT: North Korean soldiers withdrawn from Kursk front line due to heavy losses
Pravda Ukraine
The New York Times, citing officials from Ukraine and the US, has reported that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine have been pulled from the front line in Kursk Oblast after suffering heavy losses.
Source: The New York Times
Quote: “The North Korean troops, sent to bolster Russian forces trying to push back a Ukrainian offensive inside Russia’s borders, have not been seen at the front for about two weeks, the officials said after requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence matters.”
Details: Eleven thousand North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in November, but according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, their numbers have halved in just three months.
An unnamed Ukrainian official explained that disorganisation within the North Korean ranks and their lack of coordination with Russian units quickly led to significant losses.
Sources among officials and military personnel reported that upon arriving on the battlefield, North Korean soldiers were left to their own devices, advancing with minimal armoured vehicles and rarely halting to regroup or retreat.
Quote: “Many of the soldiers are among North Korea’s best-trained special operations troops, but the Russians appear to have used them as foot soldiers, sending them forth in waves across fields studded with land mines to be mowed down by heavy Ukrainian fire.”
The NYT, citing US officials, reports that the decision to withdraw North Korean troops from the front line may not be permanent. They suggest that the North Koreans could be redeployed after additional training or once the Russians develop new strategies to deploy them, aiming to prevent further heavy losses.
Background:
- On 9 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that North Korean forces fighting alongside Russian troops against the Ukrainian military had sustained 4,000 casualties, both killed and wounded in action.
- On 13 January, South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing intelligence, reported that at least 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded in the war against Ukraine.
- On 23 January, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War indicated that the new deployment of North Korean troops would sustain the current pace of infantry assaults in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. However, they are likely to suffer comparable losses, with 30,000 to 45,000 killed and injured per month.
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