CNN
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Ukraine stated on Monday that North Korean troopers preventing alongside Russian troops suffered heavy losses throughout preventing on the weekend within the Russian area of Kursk.
North Korean models that arrived in Kursk final month had been concerned in assaults on the weekend close to three villages, based on Ukraine’s protection intelligence service.
It added that some 30 North Korean troopers had been killed or wounded within the preventing and three had gone lacking throughout clashes close to the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka near the border.
Separately, a Ukrainian frontline drone unit posted video on Sunday purporting to indicate the our bodies of greater than 20 North Korean troopers lined up in an icy area. The high quality of the video was not ok to confirm their identification.
Other drone video geolocated by CNN near Plekhovo confirmed troopers showing to retreat over the weekend, pulling some casualties on sleds, however it was unclear whether or not they had been Russian or Korean.
One Ukrainian unit reported that Koreans – sporting completely different uniforms from the Russians – had launched infantry assaults utilizing the “identical techniques as 70 years in the past,” in an obvious reference to the Korean War, the place waves of infantry had been used.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated final month that North Korean troops deployed to Kursk had been concerned in fight, including that clashes had resulted in fatalities.
Since the start of December, North Korean troops seem to have been enjoying a extra distinguished function on the entrance strains in Kursk, particularly as infantry.
Ukraine estimates that about 12,000 North Korean troopers are within the area making an attempt to help Russian models in recovering components of Kursk taken in a Ukrainian offensive in August.
The preventing round Plekhovo started earlier this month as Russian models tried to push Ukrainian forces again towards the border, some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away.
A Ukrainian navy blogger, Yuriy Butusov, stated on Facebook {that a} main assault had been repelled on Saturday.
Butusov stated that North Korean infantry was backed by “large hearth help” from Russian models, in addition to digital warfare in opposition to Ukrainian drones.
“Despite the losses, the enemy assault teams continued to advance, by no means stopping even underneath precision hearth and shelling.”
“The enemy managed to achieve the Ukrainian positions attributable to their good bodily coaching, quick motion, and ignorance of their very own losses; no evacuation of the wounded and useless was carried out in the course of the assault,” Butusov commented, including that “our troops launched a number of profitable counterattacks to revive the state of affairs.”
CNN can’t confirm his account of the battle however it seems to match video proof and is per official Ukrainian accounts.
It is unclear which aspect – if both – now holds the village of Plekhovo.
