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War in Ukraine. This is how many soldiers North Korea lost – data from Western officials

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Four thousand North Korean soldiers, or nearly 40 percent of all those sent by the regime to fight against the Ukrainians, have been eliminated from combat operations, the BBC reports, citing reports from Western officials. About a thousand of them have probably died in the last three months.

Representatives of the Western authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that in just three months the North Korean army has suffered almost 40 percent losses in battles with Ukrainians in the Kursk Oblast in Russia.

Officials reported that North Korea sent about 11,000 soldiers. Four thousand of them were wounded, missing, captured or killed. About a thousand soldiers were probably killed by mid-January. “These figures show the extremely high costs incurred by Putin's ally, Kim Jong Un,” says the BBC.

SEE ALSO: More and more casualties among Kim's soldiers. “Lack of understanding of modern warfare”

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It is unclear where wounded North Korean soldiers are being treated or if or when they will be replaced by new reinforcements.

“They are thrown into a meat grinder”

According to these reports, North Korean soldiers were brought into combat with little training and protection. Kim's soldiers are not prepared for the realities of modern war. – These are poorly trained troops commanded by Russian officers whom they do not understand – says the former commander of the British Army's armored forces, Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, quoted by the BBC.

– They are thrown into a meat grinder with little chance of survival. They are cannon fodder, and Russian officers care even less about them than about their own people, he said.

READ ALSO: Kim's soldier, who was in Ukrainian hands, died

Despite similar reports, the Ukrainians do not underestimate their opponent. Supreme military commander Ukraine Gen. Oleksandr Syrski warned this week that North Korean soldiers pose a serious problem for Ukrainian soldiers. – There are many of them. 11-12 thousand highly motivated and well-prepared soldiers who conduct offensive operations. They operate based on Soviet tactics. They operate in platoons and companies. They rely on their numbers, the general told the Ukrainian news program TSN Tyzhden.

The Ukrainians captured two North Korean soldiers. “It wasn't easy”Paweł Szot/Fakty TVN

Ukrainians in the Kursk Oblast

Ukrainian troops entered the Kursk Oblast on August 6, 2024. It was then explained that one of the goals of their offensive was to force the Russians to transfer some of their forces from Donbass in eastern Ukraine. At the end of August, Kiev controlled 1,250 square kilometers of the territory of this oblast, but in September, Ukrainian forces began to lose territory as a result of the Russian army's counteroffensive.

Ukraine's achievements at Kursk were systematically limited, in part because of the arrival of North Korean troops in Russia. As the BBC points out, Ukraine still controls a large area of ​​the Kursk Oblast and is inflicting huge losses on its enemy.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) revealed on Tuesday that North Korean soldiers who fought in the Russian army and died during the war with Ukraine are posthumously accepted into the Workers' Party of Korea. Their family members are not informed about the circumstances of the soldiers' deaths or their participation in the war.

The situation in the Kursk region

Main photo source: KCNA VIA KNS



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