Ukraine says North Koreans took heavy casualties during weekend attack in Kursk region

By Victoria Butenko, Maria Kostenko, Tim Lister and Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN

(CNN) — Ukraine said on Monday that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops suffered heavy losses during fighting at the weekend in the Russian region of Kursk.

North Korean units that arrived in Kursk last month were involved in assaults at the weekend near three villages, according to Ukraine’s defense intelligence service.

It added that some 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting and three had gone missing during clashes near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka close to the border.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed Monday that North Korean soldiers had suffered casualties in the Kursk region.

“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk, with Russia, alongside Russian forces,” Ryder said. “We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

Ryder declined to provide specifics on the number of casualties, but said they have been integrated into Russian units and are primarily being used “in an infantry role.” They began actively fighting alongside Russia a little over a week ago, he said.

“As we’ve said all along, those forces are legitimate military targets for the Ukrainians given that they are engaged in active combat ops,” he added.

Separately, a Ukrainian frontline drone unit posted video on Sunday purporting to show the bodies of more than 20 North Korean soldiers lined up in an icy field. The quality of the video was not good enough to verify their identity.

Other drone video geolocated by CNN close to Plekhovo showed soldiers appearing to retreat over the weekend, pulling some casualties on sleds, but it was unclear whether they were Russian or Korean.

One Ukrainian unit reported that Koreans – wearing different uniforms from the Russians – had launched infantry attacks using the “same tactics as 70 years ago,” in an apparent reference to the Korean War, where waves of infantry were used.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that North Korean troops deployed to Kursk had been involved in combat, adding that clashes had resulted in fatalities.

Since the beginning of December, North Korean troops appear to have been playing a more prominent role on the front lines in Kursk, especially as infantry.

Ukraine estimates that about 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in the region trying to assist Russian units in recovering parts of Kursk taken in a Ukrainian offensive in August. The Pentagon also believes there are roughly 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia.

The fighting around Plekhovo began earlier this month as Russian units tried to push Ukrainian forces back toward the border, some four kilometers (2.5 miles) away.

A Ukrainian military blogger, Yuriy Butusov, said on Facebook that a major assault had been repelled on Saturday.

Butusov said that North Korean infantry was backed by “massive fire support” from Russian units, as well as electronic warfare against Ukrainian drones.

“Despite the losses, the enemy assault groups continued to advance, never stopping even under precision fire and shelling.”

“The enemy managed to reach the Ukrainian positions due to their good physical training, fast movement, and ignorance of their own losses; no evacuation of the wounded and dead was carried out during the assault,” Butusov commented, adding that “our troops launched several successful counterattacks to restore the situation.”

CNN cannot verify his account of the battle but it appears to match video evidence and is consistent with official Ukrainian accounts.

It is unclear which side – if either – now holds the village of Plekhovo.

CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

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