THE WASHINGTON POST: At least 30 North Korean troops reported killed on Ukraine frontline

At least 30 North Korean troops, deployed to bolster Russian forces in their war in Ukraine, have been wounded or killed in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian authorities said Monday, a significant turning point after months of speculation over what role Pyongyang’s troops might play in the war.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as GUR, announced the casualty number Monday. The Pentagon later said it has “indications” that North Korean troops “have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

Three Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Kursk region, where Kyiv seized a swath of territory in August, described waves of what appeared to be North Korean troops flooding the battlefield in full view of Ukrainian drones and other weaponry in recent days. Two said they witnessed North Korean troop movements in real time via drone and a third, who oversees reconnaissance in the region, reviewed extensive drone footage captured by fellow troops.

A separate Ukrainian military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, confirmed that North Koreans have appeared on the battlefield in Kursk in recent days and said another battalion of North Korean troops is gathered in Russia’s neighbouring Belgorod region but has not been deployed to the front. Ukrainians are waiting to see whether that battalion is sent to reinforce positions in Kursk or if it will assault Ukraine from a different direction, including potentially inside the Kharkiv region, which borders Belgorod, the official said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Monday that “preliminary data suggests that Russians are trying to conceal the losses of the North Koreans.” The Ukrainian military is trying to determine the exact number of killed and wounded while also fighting the troops, he said.

“There is not a single reason for North Koreans to die in this war,” he said. “The only reason is Putin’s madness, which has consumed Russia and fuels this war.”

North Korea sustained the losses in weekend fighting near the Russian villages of Plekhovo, Vorobzha and Martynovka, GUR said. “At least three North Korean personnel went missing” near the village of Kurilovka, the agency wrote on Telegram. It said North Korean forces were being “replenished” to “continue active combat operations in the area.”

The Ukrainians knew the troops moving across battlefields in Kursk weren’t Russians because the groups were too large, soldiers said. Russian troops typically move in smaller formations and stick close to tree lines to reduce their chances of being struck by Ukrainian firepower. But these troops, seemingly unafraid of enemy weapons hovering just overhead, moved in the open.

“The North Koreans are running across the fields, and there are so many of them. They don’t understand what’s happening,” said a Ukrainian drone unit commander deployed to Kursk who goes by the call sign Boxer. “I don’t know if they don’t understand what’s going on or if the Russians are deliberately sending them like that. I can’t say.”

The commander, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his call sign to discuss operations openly, said the assault began Saturday. The next day, more troops moved in the same way.

“FPV drones, artillery and other weapons struck them because they were moving in the open field. You can imagine the result,” he said. “We were very surprised, we had never seen anything like it - 40 to 50 people running across a field. That’s a perfect target for artillery and Mavic (drone) operators. Russians never ran like that.”

Artem, a Ukrainian attack drone operator, said his unit witnessed three groups of around 30 to 40 people moving toward Ukraine from beyond the front line inside of Russia. Some carried backpacks that appeared to be loaded with ammunition and supplies. Others carried weapons.

“Immediately, FPV drones, bombers - everything that could fly - was sent their way,” he said. The troops didn’t run from drones, instead “shooting at them.”

Others “just keep moving, and many of them are killed,” he said. “They’re different from the Russians, who have learned to run or hide from drones, only shooting at them from cover. The (North) Koreans just shoot indiscriminately, standing there firing.”

In one attack, Artem was flying a drone at night when he identified three soldiers by their heat signatures on a thermal camera. He and his fellow troops expected to kill just one - but because the other two didn’t respond quickly, they hit all three.

“It was a bizarre experience. For me, it was the first time it felt like playing a computer simulator on easy mode,” he said.

Oleksandr, a Ukrainian soldier who oversees reconnaissance in Kursk and goes by the call sign Fin, said the footage showing the way the waves of troops behaved “is significant” but “still indirect evidence that these are (North) Koreans and not Russians.”

Footage obtained and reviewed by The Washington Post shows what Oleksandr said appear to be North Korean soldiers on the front line, hiding behind trees or looking at the drones with what seem to be worried expressions.

In one video shared to Telegram and reviewed by The Post, Russians and a North Korean soldier appear to sit in a military dugout describing a drone attack. “Maybe we should kill him and grab his rifle?” one soldier says in Russian and laughs.

Then, a soldier speaking in a North Korean dialect begins to discuss the attack. “The drone, the drone just keeps on flying!” one says. Then the two soldiers mimic drone noises to each other. “That’s right - like BAM BAAAAM!” the soldier says. The Post was not able to verify the precise location where the video was filmed.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov reported the first clashes between North Korean and Ukrainian forces last month, but he did not detail casualties. US officials say Russia has deployed some 8,000 North Koreans in the Kursk region. Ukraine has said the number is around 11,000.

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