▲ Video of North Korean troops released by Zelensky
There have been ongoing reports from Western sources about North Korean troops deployed to Ukraine suffering casualties as they are actively involved in ground combat. However, it is analyzed that Russia will continue to avoid officially confirming the deployment of North Korean troops to the front lines.
Ukrainian media outlet RBC, citing analysis by the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on the 18th local time, reported that it is highly likely Russia will not acknowledge the presence of North Korean troops in the Kursk region near the Ukraine border.
Russian authorities and state media have not yet openly revealed the deployment of North Korean troops in the Kursk region.
Experts suggest that if Russia acknowledges the presence of North Korean troops, it would imply that Russia needs help from foreign troops to reclaim its own territory, making it difficult to formalize the inclusion of North Korean troops.
Furthermore, confirming the deployment of North Korean troops could highlight that President Vladimir Putin’s claim about Ukraine’s invasion of the southwestern Kursk region boosting Russian enlistment rates is untrue, complicating the matter.
Nonetheless, ISW noted that the deployment of North Korean troops in the Kursk region has been confirmed in various places.
John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, stated on the 16th that “in recent days, it has been observed that North Korean troops have moved from the second line to the front line of the battlefield and are actively participating in combat operations,” confirming the occurrence of casualties.
Pat Ryder, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense, also confirmed on the same day that North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in combat. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia is burning the faces of deceased soldiers to conceal their identities.
ISW reported that “Ukrainian military officials and intelligence sources have noted that Russia is attempting to disguise North Korean troops as Buryats.”
Buryats are Mongolian-native residents in the Russian autonomous republic to the north of Mongolia, and there have been previous claims that North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia were carrying Buryat documents.
Meanwhile, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the “Disinformation Counteraction Center” under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, analyzed that North Korean troops are showing a complete lack of understanding of the drone threat, indicating insufficient training in drone tactics.
(Photo: Zelensky Telegram capture, Yonhap News)