couple Gabriella Borter
(Reuters) – North Korean troops fighting alongside the Russian army against Ukraine are suffering massive losses on the front, with around 1,000 soldiers killed or wounded last week in Russia’s Kursk region , White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
This figure far exceeds those that US officials had previously communicated.
“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,” John Kirby said, describing the North Korean troop offensive 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.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed or injured in Russia’s Kursk region, adding that Pyongyang could provide more military personnel and equipment to the Russian army.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the information relating to this human toll.
(Gabriella Borter and Michelle Nichols; with contributions from Idrees Ali; French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Sophie Louet)
