Tag: Ukraine

Who knows how true this is, but apparently 7,000 North Koreans are now deployed near Ukraine’s border with Russia:

 Kyiv’s defense intelligence agency has said Russia appears to have deployed more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers, armed with AK-12 rifles, mortar rounds and other assault weapons, to areas near the border with Ukraine. 

South Korea and the West have warned that North Korean troops in Russia may soon enter into combat against Ukraine that would pose a major security threat to both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) said on Saturday (local time) that Russia moved more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers from Russia’s coastal region to areas near Ukraine last week.

“The North Korean troops were moved to the frontline with the help of at least 28 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” the DIU said on its website.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the initial wave of 1,500 North Korean special operations troops sent to Russia are going to be used to try and help push Ukrainian troops out of the Russian territory of Kursk:

 Russia is using civilian-plated trucks to transport “mercenaries” from North Korea to a frontline area, Ukraine’s military intelligence service has said, amid concerns over North Korean troops possibly joining combat in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

On Sunday, Russian police officers stopped a truck with civilian license plates carrying North Korean military personnel on the Kursk-Voronezh highway, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said, noting the driver did not have a combat order.

The announcement comes amid reports of North Korean troops gathering in Russia’s southwestern region of Kursk, where a major Ukrainian incursion took place in August.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The big question is whether the ROK will provide advanced military weapons to Ukraine for free or for sale:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that South Korea could consider providing arms to Ukraine, depending on the extent of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, vowing not to “sit idle” in response to Pyongyang’s troop dispatch to Russia.

Yoon made the remarks after a summit with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Seoul, during which both leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia and agreed to strengthen joint responses to growing security threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

A few years ago who would have imagined that North Korean troops and their flag would be flying over a Eastern European country?:

A pro-Russia Telegram account has posted a photo showing the Russian and North Korean flags side by side on a Ukrainian battlefield, indicating that North Korea has likely sent troops to support Russia in its prolonged war with Ukraine.

The image, shared by a blogger named @rvvoenkor_bot on Monday, showed the two flags raised together over a mine in Pokrovsk, one of the strongholds on Ukraine’s eastern front.

The blogger said that the North Korean flag has recently been raised on a hill at the mine near the city, which is one of the suspected locations where North Korean soldiers are believed to be stationed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ROK is informing North Korean Soldiers along the DMZ that they could potentially become cannon fodder in Putin’s war in Ukraine:

The South Korean loudspeakers blaring at the Demilitarized Zone are causing pain for the residents of the nearby Unification Village, the village chief told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. Since Monday, the South Korean armed forces’ “Voice of Freedom” has been broadcasting around-the-clock to North Koreans that their troops are deployed to Russia to support the invasion of Ukraine, Lee Wanbae said.

“Not only me but also my villagers have been hearing the anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts all day long every day,” he said. “The military broadcasts it from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. … and it is very loud. So, our ears are starting to hurt.” Unification Village, in a buffer zone just outside the DMZ, is just over a mile from the no-man’s land dividing the two countries.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This would be bold of South Korea to send troops to Ukraine when even the U.S. hasn’t officially sent any American troops to Ukraine yet:

 South Korea is considering sending a team of personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops being deployed to support Russia, a government source said Tuesday.

Last week, Seoul’s spy agency said North Korea sent some 1,500 special forces to Russia this month to take part in the war in Ukraine. The North is expected to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops from an elite special forces unit, according to an intelligence source.

“There is a possibility that personnel will be sent to Ukraine to monitor the tactics and combat capabilities of North Korean special forces dispatched in support of Russia,” the source said.

If deployed, the team is expected to be composed of military personnel from intelligence units, who could analyze North Korean battlefield tactics or take part in interrogations of captured North Koreans.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ROK sending Ukraine artillery shells seems to clearly be on the table now as well.

It will be interesting to see when these large formations of North Korean Soldiers begin appearing on the frontlines in Ukraine:

A satellite image provided by the National Intelligence Service on Oct. 18, 2024, shows a Russian naval vessel suspected of transporting North Korean troops from the northeastern port of Chongjin. 

One of the three pictures that South Korea’s intelligence agency disclosed as evidence of North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia was captured by a satellite that the South has been operating, a government source said Sunday.

Two of the three photos were attributed to Airbus, a global satellite imagery provider, but the third was not attributed when the National Intelligence Service (NIS) presented them Friday while confirming the North’s deployment of troops to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Disclosing the satellite images, the NIS said that the North has decided to send around 12,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine and has already deployed 1,500 special forces troops to Vladivostok.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the North Korean cannon fodder for Putin’s war in Ukraine may be more than originally believed:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that North Korea is preparing to send around 10,000 soldiers to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, calling the development “a big problem.”

Zelenskyy cited Ukrainian intelligence reports indicating that North Korean personnel have already been deployed in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, with additional troops being prepared to join the fight. 

“We know about 10,000 soldiers of North Korea that they are preparing to send to fight against us,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference in Brussels after the European Union summit. “That’s really, I think, a big problem.”

Zelenskyy suggested that Russia is relying on North Korean forces to compensate for its substantial troop losses, as many young Russians seek to avoid conscription. 

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is afraid of mobilization very much because social opinion is against his,” he said. “That’s why he (Putin) is trying to involve other participants of this war.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like North Koreans are getting closer to becoming cannon fodder in Putin’s war in Ukraine:

The defense ministry said Wednesday it is “closely” monitoring for signs of North Korea possibly sending troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, following media reports of Russia forming a battalion of North Koreans.

Ukrainian media outlets earlier reported that Russia is organizing a special battalion that is expected to include up to 3,000 North Koreans due to manpower shortages amid concerns over deepening military cooperation between the two countries.

“As there is a possibility of (North Korea) providing troops or civilian personnel, this is being closely monitored,” a ministry official said when asked about the reports.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Putin has found some more cannon fodder for his war in Ukraine:

Six North Korean officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on their position along the Russian frontline of the occupied Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian news reports on Friday.   
  
Ukrainian military intelligence officials who were quoted anonymously by the Kyiv Post and Interfax-Ukraine said over 20 military personnel, including the North Korean officers, were killed in the strike. 
  
Russian military bloggers reported earlier in the day that North Korean military officers were visiting the frontline to see how Russian forces set up defensive positions and were “preparing for assault operations” before the Ukrainian missile struck. 
  
According to the Russian Telegram channel Kremlin Snuffbox, three North Korean officers were also injured in the strike and were sent to Moscow to be treated.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.