The latter reacted to publications on social networks from Ukrainian accounts reporting this capture, with photos of a soldier presented as North Korean.
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 ever confirmed the presence of this contingent alongside the Russian army.
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 general staff of the South Korean forces also observed preparations which make them believe that North Korea is preparing to send new units to Russia, as reinforcements or to relieve those already fighting, in addition to drones.
“The involvement of the North Koreans in the fighting has not had a significant impact on the situation,” 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.” -World War II.
