Vladimir Putin (right) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
IMAGO/Russian Look
“More than a thousand” North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia to fight against Ukraine were killed or wounded in “hopeless” assaults in Kursk and used as “sacrificable” troops, a security official said Friday. -White House spokesperson John Kirby.
“North Korean forces are carrying out massive assaults… against Ukrainian positions in Kursk. These human waves were not very effective (…) We estimate that to date, more than 1,000 people have been injured or killed, said Mr. Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders view them as troops that can be sacrificed,” he added.
“A thousand people were killed or injured in the space of seven or eight days. So I hope” that their “commanders (have) a lot of coffins, because they are clearly going to need them,” he insisted.
“These soldiers seem to be very indoctrinated”
Mr. Kirby also mentioned cases of suicide. “These North Korean soldiers appear to be very indoctrinated… There are reports that North Korean soldiers are killing themselves rather than surrender to Ukrainian forces, probably out of fear of reprisals against their families in North Korea if they do. where they would be captured.
Mr. Kirby believes that the presence of “foreign troops on Russian soil” is a “sign of desperation” from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Monday that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or injured” since their engagement alongside Russia. Seoul for its part mentioned on Monday 1,100 “killed or injured”.
The involvement of a regular foreign army constituted a major escalation of the invasion which was launched almost three years ago by Vladimir Putin and is entering a critical phase with the return in less than a month of Donald Trump to the White House.
According to kyiv, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including “around 500 officers and three generals”, are engaged in the Russian region of Kursk, of which the Ukrainian army has occupied several hundred square kilometers since August.
Neither Russia nor North Korea have confirmed the presence of this contingent alongside the Russian army.
“The involvement of the North Koreans in the fighting did not have a significant impact,” Yevgen Ierin, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), told AFP on Tuesday.
According to him, North Korean troops do not have modern combat experience, particularly in the face of drones that have become omnipresent on the battlefield, and use “more primitive tactics, from World War II or after.” -Second World War”.
(afp)
