These wipe “a lot of losses. A lot. And we see that the Russian army and the North Korean supervisors are not at all interested in the survival of these Koreans”declared the Ukrainian president in his daily address.
“Several North Korean soldiers died today. Our soldiers managed to capture them. But they were very seriously injured and could not be saved”he said again, before denouncing “the madness of which dictatorships are capable” by sending soldiers to be killed “in battles in Europe”.
“Everything is done to make it impossible for us to capture Koreans. The Russians send them to attack with minimal protection“and the insistence of M. Zelensky.
South Korean intelligence services had revealed a few hours earlier that a North Korean soldier taken prisoner on December 26 by the Ukrainians had not survived his wounds.
“More than 1,000” killed or injured
The same day, Washington assured that “more than a thousand” soldiers deployed by Pyongyang to Russia to fight against Ukraine were killed or injured during assaults “hopeless” in the Kursk border region.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders view them as troops that can be sacrificed“added John Kirby, spokesperson for the American National Security Council.
“North Korean forces are carrying out massive assaults (…) against Ukrainian positions in Kursk. These human waves have not been very effective (…). We estimate that to date, more than 1,000 people were injured” or killed, he said.
On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or injured” since their engagement alongside Russian forces and Seoul gave the figure of 1,100.
The involvement of a regular foreign army was a major escalation in the invasion that 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.
No “significant impact”
According to kyiv, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including “around 500 officers”among which “three generals”are located in the Kursk region, 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.
The general staff of the South Korean forces has also observed preparations which make it believe that North Korea is preparing to dispatch new units to Russia, to reinforce or to relieve those already fighting, in addition to drones.
A historic mutual defense treaty between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, recently entered into force. He plans “immediate military aid” in the event of armed attack by a third country.
“The involvement of the North Koreans in the fighting did not have a significant impact”however, Yevgen Ierin, the spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), told AFP on Tuesday.
“Tactics from the Second World War”
According to him, North Korean troops lack experience in modern warfareparticularly in the face of drones that have become omnipresent on the battlefield, and employ “more primitive tactics, from the Second World War or post-World War II”.
On the diplomatic front, Slovakia confirmed on Friday that it agreed to host peace talks on Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin previously ruling “acceptable” that she becomes a “platform” of dialogue.
“If anyone wants to organize peace talks in Slovakia, we will be ready and we will be welcoming”declared Prime Minister Robert Fico.
