Saturday, February 1, 2025 -Ukraine has claimed that North Korean soldiers deployed to fight alongside Russia’s forces on the Kursk front line have been “withdrawn” after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday, January 31.
Intelligence agencies from the West, South Korea, and Ukraine have
reported that Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 troops to support Russia in the
Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border offensive in
August. This marked the first time a foreign army had entered Russian territory
since the Second World War, resulting in the capture of dozens of settlements
and a significant setback for Moscow.
The North Korean troops, whose deployment was never officially
acknowledged by Russia or North Korea, were intended to bolster Russian forces
and help repel Ukraine’s advance. However, nearly six months later, Ukraine
continues to hold parts of Russian territory, which President Volodymyr
Zelensky views as a strategic advantage in potential negotiations with the
Kremlin.
“Over the past three weeks, we have not seen or detected any activity or
military clashes with the North Koreans,” Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesman for
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, told AFP. “We believe that they have been
withdrawn because of the heavy losses that were inflicted,” he added.
Ukraine previously reported capturing or killing several North Korean
soldiers in the Kursk region. Zelensky has released footage of interrogations
with what he claims are North Korean prisoners of war captured on the Kursk
front. Ukrainian officials have also alleged that wounded North Korean soldiers
were using grenades to end their lives rather than being taken prisoner.
When asked about reports of the withdrawal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov declined to provide a definitive response. “There are a lot of different
arguments out there, both right and wrong,” Peskov said. “It’s not worth
commenting on every time.”
The deployment of North Korean troops had been criticized by Kyiv and
Western nations as a dangerous escalation of the conflict. Ukraine says around
2,000 Russian civilians are living in areas under Ukrainian control, cut off
from communication with relatives in Moscow-controlled territory. Frustration
has reportedly been growing in the Russian border region over the lack of
action by local authorities to secure their return or provide updates on their
situation.
While Ukraine maintains its hold on parts
of the Kursk region, Russia has been making gains on other parts of the
1,000-kilometer front. On Friday, Moscow’s forces announced the capture of
Novovasylivka, a village in eastern Ukraine near a key logistics hub
and a vital military supply route. The village is close to Pokrovsk in the
Donetsk region, which Russia claimed to annex in 2022 despite not having full
control of the area.
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