Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) said on Monday, the 16th of December, that North Korean units fighting on the Russian side suffered casualties over the weekend, with at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded in several villages in the Kursk region, reports Reuters.
The agency’s statement came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia was for the first time using a significant number of North Korean soldiers to carry out attacks in Kursk.
The statement is the first time that Kyiv has claimed in such detail that North Korea has suffered casualties. The report says that the losses were in the vicinity of the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka in the Kursk region.
“As a result of the losses, attack groups are being replenished with new personnel, in particular from the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army, to continue active combat operations in the Kursk region,” the Ukrainian HUR wrote.
The first images of the remains of both Russian and North Korean soldiers reported killed in action have also emerged on the web.
⚡️ Commander of the 414th Strike Drone Regiment shared footage of the remains of both Russian and DPRK soldiers, reportedly killed in combat.
Previously, Ukrainian intelligence reported that about 200 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in combat. pic.twitter.com/3v9Wwjbles
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) December 15, 2024
It was not possible to independently verify this data.
The Kremlin refused to comment on Ukraine’s claim, referring the matter to the Russian Ministry of Defence, which has not commented on the subject.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans. Pyongyang initially dismissed the reports of the troop deployment as “fake”, but a North Korean official later said that the deployment would be legal.
In the autumn, Ukrainian and Western officials warned that more than 10 000 North Korean troops had gathered in the Kursk region, ready to help Russia try to push Ukrainian forces out of the region.