North Koreans die in droves even as Russia unleashes firepower on Ukraine

Ukrainian forces have killed or wounded more than 1,000 North Korean troops Russia has sent to fight them, according to Kyiv and officials in South Korea.

“According to preliminary data, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on December 23.

South Korean intelligence put the North Korean dead and wounded at 1,100, and said the North was preparing to send more troops. North Korea sent 11,000 troops to fight in the Russian region of Kursk, which Ukraine counter-invaded in August.

North Korean troops were evidently untrained in dealing with Ukrainian drones, which took a high toll. In one instance, Ukrainian drone operators recorded how a North Korean soldier accidentally shot his comrade as they tried to shoot down the drone that was filming them.

They may have been trying to execute a tactic described in a notebook recovered from the body of a North Korean soldier.

“When detecting a drone, you need to create a trio, where the one who lures the drone keeps a distance of seven metres, and those who shoot it, 10-12 metres,” it read. “If the one who is luring stands still, the drone will also stop its movement. At this moment, the one who is shooting will eliminate the drone.”

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said on Telegram their 8th regiment had killed 77 North Koreans in Kursk and wounded 40 over three days, without specifying the location. A video collage released by the regiment showed drones bearing down on individual enemy troops. Their signal cuts out at point-blank range, indicating the moment when the drones detonate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been embarrassed by the first capture of Russian land since World War II and had initially pledged to push Ukrainian forces out by October 1.

As the deadline drew near, his spokesman changed the Kremlin position, saying Ukraine’s forces would be ejected “in a timely manner”.  Putin reinforced that vagueness in an annual news conference on December 19. “I cannot and do not want to name a specific date when they will be knocked out,” he said.