Despite claims of widespread losses among Pyongyang’s forces, a Ukrainian military officer stated Friday that North Korean troops have been pulling out of the Kursk region of Russia for weeks.
Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military’s Special Operations Forces, said DPRK troops had not been seen for around three weeks and that they were likely compelled to leave after sustaining significant casualties.
According to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, sources indicate that some North Korean forces have been pulled back from the frontlines after suffering severe losses.
According to Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence assessments, some 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been dispatched to Russia, with approximately 4,000 killed or injured.
North Korean forces have been stationed in Kursk since at least November to deter Ukraine’s assault in the southern Russian border region.
However, Russia appears to be using the troops as foot soldiers, using them to carry out mass ground assaults despite major losses in Kursk.
Ukraine has recently made advancements in Kursk, according to a battlefield update from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier this week that Russian forces recaptured the Kursk region village of Nikolayevo-Daryino, which lies on the Russia-Ukraine border.
Last year, months before North Korean troops were deployed to Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a historic defense treaty, promising to use all available means to give quick military aid if the other was attacked.
The accord is Russia and North Korea’s most major agreement in decades, and it is seen as a rebirth of their mutual defense guarantee from the Cold War era.
