North Korean troops engaged in battles with Ukrainian forces — Ukraine’s General Staff

Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Anatoliy Barhylevych, reported the information on TSN live.

He specified the nature of the servicemen Russia has already deployed to the Kursk region.

"These are mainly general military units. They are disguised as indigenous people of the Russian Far East, equipped with corresponding documents. They are trained to conduct operations in the European part of the region," explained the Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Military cooperation between Russia and North Korea

On October 4, the Kyiv Post reported that 20 soldiers were killed in a missile strike on occupied Donetsk, including six North Korean military personnel advising the Russian army.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, later reported that 11,000 North Korean infantrymen are training in eastern Russia, preparing for deployment to Ukraine. He added that the first unit of 2,600 soldiers is en route to Kursk, where Ukraine has established a stronghold.

On October 28, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed the presence of North Korea's military in Russia’s Kursk region, noting that this is “a major escalation in DPRK’s ongoing role in Russia’s illegal war.” 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was already using DPRK military personnel on the territory of Ukraine and that up to 12,000 troops could be deployed to Russian training grounds from the DPRK.

On October 31, reports stated that North Korea had dispatched three of its generals to Russia, including the DPRK's deputy chief of general staff, who also serves as the head of the country's main intelligence bureau.

On November 1, President Zelenskyy announced that the first thousand North Korean soldiers were already positioned near the Ukrainian border. Additionally, Ukraine's intelligence indicated that in the last week of October, Russia had relocated over 7,000 North Korean army soldiers from its territory to areas close to Ukraine.

Later, Zelenskyy stated that Russia had deployed more than 11,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region. On Tuesday, November 5, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed the information that the first military clash between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers fighting on the side of the Russian army took place in the Kursk region.

The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russia has provided Pyongyang with barrels of oil, air defense systems and tanks in exchange for the DPRK's military involvement in the war against Ukraine.