North Korea has sent a new group of military personnel to Russia. The size of the contingent is still unknown.
Reuters reports this, citing South Korean intelligence.
Additional North Korean troops have been sent to the front line in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, where Russian soldiers are trying to push back Ukrainian fighters.
The American newspaper The New York Times wrote at the end of January that North Korea would send reinforcements to Russia in two months.
According to information from the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (known as GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov in early February 2025, 8 000 North Korean fighters were fighting in the Kursk region. Before that, their activity decreased due to heavy losses.
Participation of the DPRK military in the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian intelligence reported on October 24, 2024, that the first soldiers from the DPRK had already arrived at the front — in the Kursk region. There are approximately 12 000 soldiers, including 500 officers and three generals.
According to sources in the American newspaper The New York Times, Russia has assembled a group of 50 000 soldiers for an offensive in the Kursk region. The North Koreans are being trained in artillery strikes, basic infantry tactics and, most importantly, trench clearing, American officials say. This means that at least some of the North Korean soldiers will be used in frontal attacks on Ukrainian positions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 3,000 soldiers from the DPRK have already been killed or wounded. South Korean intelligence believes that 300 soldiers have been killed in the war and almost 2 700 have been wounded.
Zelensky first reported on December 27, 2024, that the Defense Forces had captured North Korean soldiers, but then they died of wounds. The North Korean soldiers were captured for the second time in January. Ukraine is ready to exchange them for its own soldiers.
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