The United States warned on Monday that North Korean soldiers were moving toward Russia’s western Kursk region, which Ukraine invaded in August, as Ukrainian forces prepare for an imminent attack by new forces.
The Pentagon announced that North Korea is currently sending about 10,000 soldiers to train in eastern Russia, many of whom are moving toward battlefields in the Kursk region. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed on Monday that North Korean troops had been deployed to Kursk, saying it represented a “dangerous escalation” of the war.
Ukrainian and US officials announced last week that thousands of North Korean troops had already arrived in the Kursk region. Military experts say the numbers are too small to affect the overall situation on the wider battlefield, where both sides are deploying hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but that Russia will need to regain territory in the Kursk region. He says there is a good chance.
John Foreman, a former British defense attaché in Moscow and Kiev, said: “As their numbers grow, the impact will be made clear by the steady development of Russia’s counterattack.”
Ukrainian officials said Monday that North Korean soldiers were deployed to camps and living in temporary barracks 40 to 40 miles from the Ukrainian border. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military information, said North Koreans had not yet taken part in the fighting.
It is unclear how exactly North Korean forces will support the Russian counterattack in the Kursk region. Analysts say the soldiers can be used in direct attacks or to guard areas behind combat zones, thereby freeing up Russian forces to attack, but their It said its effectiveness has not been tested and could be hampered by coordination issues with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday that North Korean troops are expected to enter combat operations early this week. Two Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Kursk region said they had been warned by their commanders that an attack could be imminent.
“They have been warning us about an upcoming attack,” Lieutenant Colonel Artem Horodokevich, deputy commander of Ukraine’s 61st Mechanized Brigade, said in a text message on Saturday. “It will probably arrive within a few days.”
Two Ukrainian military officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, said the military also issued a Ukrainian and Korean phrasebook to its troops to address North Korean soldiers and urge them to surrender.
North Korea’s military has not fought a war since the 1950s, and if sent to the front lines they would face battle-hardened Ukrainian soldiers. Sabrina Singh, deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said Monday that she did not have details about the types of troops or weapons North Korea is sending.
Coordination with the Russian military will also be complicated, said Viktor Kebriuk, a retired Ukrainian colonel now at the Kiev-based Defense Strategy Center. Because they do not speak the same language, have different training and are not accustomed to the Russian army. The terrain they will be fighting over.
Wolfgang Issinger, former German ambassador to Washington and chairman of the Munich Security Council, said: “This could be a major headache for the Russian military, which is not used to having large foreign forces under its command.” ” he said.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia plans to assign one interpreter to every 30 North Korean soldiers in order to strengthen cooperation with Russian forces on the battlefield. This claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine carried out a surprise attack in Russia’s western Kursk region in August and was able to quickly capture approximately 400 square miles of territory. Since then, Russian forces have retaken almost half of the area, but the response has been hampered by the slow deployment of troops to the area. Military experts say this is largely due to the Kremlin’s decision to prioritize attacks in eastern Ukraine over responding to attacks by Ukraine on its own.
Still, the presence of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region is a thorn in President Vladimir V. Putin’s side, undermining his promise that Russia is safe from attack and incapable of protecting civilians living in border areas. It exposed that.
In recent days, President Putin has praised his military’s success in retaking villages occupied by Ukrainian forces. “He’s determined to get them out of Russia, but it’s taking too long for his liking,” Foreman said.
Kebriuk, of the Defense Strategy Center in Kiev, said he expected North Korean forces would be used to attack Ukrainian positions, following Russia’s long-standing strategy of overwhelming the other side with waves of ground attacks.
“North Korean forces will storm the most fortified positions of the Ukrainian army, and Russian regular forces will strengthen the captured objects and front lines,” Kebriuk said. “Russia’s tactics have not changed: achieving numerical superiority in personnel with artillery support.”
According to Kiev, Russia has about 50,000 troops in the Kursk region, but the number of Ukrainians deployed there has not been reported. Ukraine sends about 30,000 soldiers, according to an independent military analysis. Experts say an additional 10,000 North Korean troops could allow Russia to overwhelm the Ukrainian military.
“Given their numbers, they can influence hostilities in certain areas,” Colonel Holodkevich said of North Korean troops.
Foreman said he hoped the North Korean military would instead “stay on the defensive and strengthen the front lines” and free up some Russian troops for offensive operations.
If these were used in a direct attack, “the Russian military would question the reliability of the North Korean military, and using North Korean forces could put the Russian military at risk.” added.
North Korea’s military involvement in the war has raised concerns in the West. On Monday, a delegation of South Korean officials who first reported the deployment briefed NATO on the situation at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to the security of the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic region,” Rutte said after the press conference. “It undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and incites Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Eric Schmitt, Michael Schwirtz, Evelina Riabenko, Olha Konvalova and Steven Erlanger contributed to the report.
