the North Koreans have already started to desert

Around twenty North Korean soldiers are missing in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian spies. The Russian army is said to be looking for deserters.

This Thursday, in Brussels, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to fight in Ukraine alongside Russian forces. According to him, Putin is “trying to involve” other parties “in this war” because of the “heavy losses” suffered by the Russian army and because he is “afraid of a mobilization” which would be very unpopular.

But everything would not go as planned. Shortly after their arrival on the Russian front, around twenty North Korean soldiers have already deserted. This is what the American magazine writes Newsweekreferring to Ukrainian public radio Suspilne.

The soldiers were stationed in the Russian oblasts of Kursk and Bryansk, about six kilometers from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, the article published Thursday said.

Intelligence services as a source

A Ukrainian intelligence official, cited by Suspilne, said that the Russian military was searching for the North Koreans, and that commanders would try to conceal the desertion from their superiors.

Ukrainian news portal LIGA wrote on Tuesday that Russia deployed North Korean soldiers in the southwest of the country. That is to say, where Russian troops are so far fighting unsuccessfully against the incursion of Ukrainian troops.

According to the source cited by LIGANorth Korean soldiers were to form a “special Buryat battalion,” which is named after the Mongolian ethnic group native to the region. The information provided by the Ukrainian intelligence agent has not yet been confirmed by independent sources.

Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June for the first time in 24 years and signed a pact with dictator Kim Jong Un. This would include mutual military support in the event of war.

(dsc)

Translated and adapted from German by Léa Krejci

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