By Deutsche Welle
Dec 17, 2024, 10:19 PM EST
“Hundreds” of North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in fighting with the Ukrainian army in the Russian Kursk region, declared a senior US military commander.
“Our latest estimate of North Korean casualties is several hundred,” said the official, who requested anonymity. He specified that the count includes “from the slightly wounded to those killed in combat.”
On Tuesday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandre Sirski, declared that “The enemy has been carrying out intense offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using units of the North Korean army” for three days and have suffered many “casualties.”
Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk in early August, the largest on Russian territory since World War II, and still controls a small part of the area.
Silence in Moscow and Pyongyang
Thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia in recent weeks to support the Russian army, according to Western sources.
The Kremlin evades questions on the issue and Pyongyang has neither confirmed nor denied this unprecedented deployment.
These troops “had never fought before,” which could explain the number of casualties, the American officer stated.
In recent months, Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual defense agreementwhich came into effect at the beginning of December.
Article 4 of the agreement provides for “immediate military assistance” in the event of armed aggression by third countries.
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