North Korea has sent its own soldiers to help the Russian army in the Kursk region. According to Ukrainians, many have already lost their lives. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported heavy losses of North Korean soldiers in Russian territory last week as well.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s Kursk region in recent days. TASR informs about it according to the reports of Reuters and Jonhap.
According to estimates by Ukrainian and Western officials, the DPRK sent approximately 11,000 of its soldiers to help the Russian army in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces unexpectedly invaded in August and took control of parts of the territory.
Fighting near Makhnovka
The Ukrainian leader, referring to the supreme commander of the Ukrainian forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that the fighting took place in a village near the Ukrainian border. “In yesterday’s and today’s battles near the village of Makhnovka in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to one battalion of North Korean infantrymen and Russian paratroopers,” Zelenskyy said. He did not provide any details.
The battalion can vary in size, but generally consists of several hundred soldiers, Reuters reported, adding that it could not independently verify the Ukrainian president’s claim.
Zelensky reported heavy losses of North Korean soldiers in Russian territory last week as well. At the time, he said the North Koreans were taking extraordinary measures to avoid capture.
The most complicated situation around Pokrovsko
The Ukrainian president also stated on Saturday that “fierce fighting” is taking place on the entire front, with the most complex situation being around the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian army said that Pokrovsk remains the “hottest” frontline sector and Russian troops are launching new attacks near the city in an attempt to bypass it from the south and cut off supply routes for Ukrainian troops, writes Reuters.
Russia has been trying to capture this mining town for months. In recent months, the Russian army has succeeded in advancing in the Donetsk region in the east of Ukraine, where Pokrovsk is also located.
