Thousands of North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia’s western Kursk region and are expected to take part in a further counterattack aimed at dislodging Ukrainian forces that have occupied parts of the region since August, Ukrainian officials said. one person and two U.S. officials made the announcement Friday.
North Korean troops have not yet taken part in the fighting, and it is not yet clear what role they will play, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. Officials say that whatever the North Korean military’s role is, sending a large number of North Korean troops would allow Russia to keep more troops in eastern Ukraine before the onset of severe winter weather. It said it could continue to focus on capturing as much Ukrainian territory as possible.
The governments of South Korea and Ukraine have been warning for weeks that thousands of North Koreans are training with Russian soldiers, with Ukraine putting the number at 12,000. And this week, U.S. officials confirmed that a detachment of North Korean troops had been transferred by ship to Vladivostok, the Russian metropolis on the Pacific coast, but Defense Secretary Lloyd J. ” called it an escalation of the situation.
On Wednesday, the first North Korean troops traveled some 4,000 miles to the Kursk region, and thousands more have arrived every day since. A senior Ukrainian official familiar with troop movements said up to 5,000 North Korean troops were expected to be assembled by Monday.
Officials said the unit is part of the elite forces of the Korean People's Army. Ukrainian officials said they were being flown from Vladivostok aboard giant Il-76 transport planes to military airfields in western Russia before being driven into a combat zone.
There is mixed information on whether additional North Korean troops will be sent to fight on Ukrainian territory, Ukrainian officials said. At the moment, they are concentrated only in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region in early August and captured approximately 400 square miles of territory in the first weeks of the invasion. However, throughout October, Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukrainian positions in the region and recaptured several villages, although Ukraine still occupied about 250 square miles.
But after more than two months on Russian territory, Ukraine has so far failed to achieve one of its main goals in Kursk: to distract Russian forces from fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. . Russian forces are pushing back Ukrainian forces with slow but steady advances. .
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, citing intelligence sources, said he would send North Korean troops to the battlefield as early as next week.
“This is a clear escalation measure by Russia,” Zelenskiy said.
It is unclear how, if at all, the addition of North Korean troops might change the dynamics of the battlefield.
North Korea’s military has not fought a war since the 1950s, and even the capabilities of its elite troops have been questioned. Even before going to war, they must contend with language barriers, unfamiliar terrain, and military customs that may be very different from their own.
If sent to the front lines in Kursk, they would face battle-hardened Ukrainian forces that Russian troops have been unable to dislodge since their surprise invasion in August.
“Even if they end up on the front lines, we don’t expect them to be a very capable fighting force,” Emil Kastehelmi, a military expert with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, said on social media. Written on Platform X. But he added: , it may not matter.
“Someone has to die on the battlefield, and from Russia’s point of view, of course it’s better if that person is not Russian,” Kastehelmi said.
Besides the immediate battle plan, another pressing question for the United States and its Asian allies is what Russian President Vladimir V. Putin gave North Korea in return for troops.
So far, U.S. officials say they haven’t seen any evidence of quid pro quo, but the worry is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could use some kind of large-scale investment that could make North Korea more dangerous in exchange for hardship. There is a possibility that they will receive significant military aid. Posing to neighboring countries and the United States.
Officials and experts say Mr. Kim is trying to improve the range of his intercontinental ballistic missiles and demonstrate that they can hit American cities.
For Putin, the benefits are clear. According to Western estimates, more than 600,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the start of the war, and more men are needed to power his war machine. But he is also reluctant to spend political capital on another major draft. This has forced him to resort to unconventional recruitment methods, such as conscripting incarcerated prisoners and recruiting mercenaries from poor countries like Cuba and Nepal to join the fight for cash. Ta.
Almost all of these forces, including the bulk of Russia’s domestic combat power, have been committed to a bloody and arduous offensive in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Putin is reluctant to divert troops from the main battle to eliminate a relatively small Ukrainian force occupying a corner of Russian territory in the Kursk region.
But there are signs that his patience with the invasion is running out, as efforts to remove Ukrainians intensified this month even before North Korean troops arrived.
On Thursday, Russia’s lower house of parliament ratified the mutual defense treaty with North Korea that Putin signed with Kim in June. It was a rubber-stamp vote, but Mr. Putin used it to signal that he was reaffirming ties between Russia and North Korea and drawing on allies to strengthen his confrontation with the West.
Constant Méheut contributed reporting from Kiev, Ukraine
