On December 27, 2024, the White House confirmed that Russia was sending North Korean troops to the front as “cannon fodder.” A plan denounced by Ukraine which has already announced heavy losses among the 12,000 soldiers who came to the aid of the Kremlin.
North Korean soldiers deployed in the Russian region of Kursk are suffering heavy losses and do not benefit from any support from the Russian army with which they are fighting, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
Significant losses
In his daily address, the Ukrainian president said the Russian military was sending North Korean soldiers into battle with minimal protection and that the North Koreans themselves were taking extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner.
“Their losses are significant, very significant. We see that neither the Russian military nor their North Korean overseers have the slightest interest in ensuring the survival of these North Koreans,” a dit Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Everything is done to make it impossible for us to capture them. There are cases where they are executed by their own forces. The Russians send them to attack with minimal protection”he added.
12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed
Ukrainian and Western intelligence services estimate that around 12,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces entered in August.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed or injured in the fighting. He said Friday that Ukrainian forces managed to take some North Korean soldiers prisoner.
“But they were seriously injured and it was not possible to save their lives”he said. The Ukrainian president also called on China to use its influence with North Korea to prevent the latter from getting involved in the conflict triggered by Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The White House confirms
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders view these troops as expendable and order them to carry out hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses”said John Kirby, describing the offensive by North Korean troops as “massive assaults on foot”.
North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia's mission to the UN declined to comment.
