Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported on Telegram that its drone operators successfully eliminated nearly 100 North Korean soldiers, including 50 killed, in the Kursk region of Russia.
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The SSO released a video, the time and location of which Kyiv Post was unable to independently verify. The footage shows Ukrainian kamikaze drones targeting what are claimed to be DPRK soldiers, followed by a series of explosions, suggesting casualties among North Korean forces.
“Soldiers of the 8th Regiment of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine organized a warm welcome for North Korean troops in the Kursk region,” read the caption accompanying the video.
The SSO reports that in just three days, 50 DPRK soldiers were killed and 47 more were wounded. During this time, Special Operations Forces also destroyed two pieces of armored equipment, two vehicles, and one Russian all-terrain vehicle (ATV).
“Fighting continues,” the report stated.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR), told The War Zone on Dec. 16, that North Korean troops began launching large-scale assault operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region last week.
Although around 12,000 DPRK soldiers had been stationed in Kursk for months, assisting Russian efforts to repel the Ukrainian advance, they only recently began intensifying their attacks. According to Budanov, more than 200 North Koreans have been killed in these operations so far.
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Ukrainian intelligence reported that one of the North Korean positions in Kursk was “effectively covered” by first-person view (FPV) drones. While some North Korean soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past, these losses have been on a much smaller scale.
The Pentagon’s top spokesperson on Dec.16 confirmed HUR’s claim that the DPRK soldiers are now fighting alongside Russian troops. They entered combat alongside Russian troops “about a week ago,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder reported.
“We do have indications that they have separate casualties, both killed and wounded,” he told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. “I don’t have specific numbers to provide for you, but we continue to monitor… Those forces are legitimate military targets for the Ukrainians, given that they are engaged in active combat.”
HUR also highlighted significant challenges in integrating North Korean troops with Russian forces. “Language barrier remains a difficult obstacle to management and coordination of actions,” the report said.
This communication gap led to an incident in which DPRK soldiers fired on vehicles belonging to the Akhmat battalion, which Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov leads. At least eight soldiers were killed.
The Dec. 16 HUR report read that DPRK army units had to be replenished after suffering significant losses during assaults in the Kursk region.
During Dec. 14 and 15, near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba, and Martynovka, in Russia’s Kursk region, units of the DPRK army suffered significant losses – at least 30 soldiers were killed or wounded, according to the HUR.
Ukrainian intelligence assessments disclosed at least three North Korean troops went missing near the village of Kurilovka. Due to these losses, the assault groups were reinforced with fresh personnel from the 94th Separate Brigade of the North Korean army to sustain combat operations in the Kursk region, the HUR reported.
On Sunday, Dec. 15, Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of the Ukrainian Marine’s 414th Separate Regiment of Strike Unmanned Aircraft Systems, shared a drone video showcasing more than two dozen bodies, reportedly of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russians in the Kursk region. According to Madyar, these soldiers were eliminated through the coordinated actions of FPV drone pilots from multiple units.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier reported that Russia is deploying a “significant number” of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region.
“The Russians include them in combined units and use them in operations in the Kursk region,” Zelensky said during his Dec. 14 address. He added that intelligence suggests North Koreans may be deployed in other areas of the front line.
“The losses among this category are already noticeable,” he said.
Junior Sergeant Stanislav Bunyatov of the 24th Aidar Assault Battalion indicated that North Korean troops had been engaged in combat for more than a week.
He described them as “well-trained, motivated, and cold-blooded,” with a strong command of Soviet-era weaponry. However, Bunyatov said their morale declines significantly when they start to take heavy casualties.
Russian commanders, he added, are using these troops in so-called meat assaults alongside Russian forces, underestimating their true combat capabilities.
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