Russia acknowledges North Korea troops fighting Ukraine war for first time
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Russia’s counteroffensive included mobilising North Korean troops to fight alongside its own soldiers.
PHOTO: AFP
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MOSCOW – Russia’s top general confirmed for the first time that his nation has deployed North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine, as he reported on April 27 that Moscow regained full control of the formerly partially occupied Kursk region.
“I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk region’s border areas,” Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, said during a videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, using North Korea’s official name.
The troops “provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said, according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
Kyiv mounted a surprise offensive in Kursk in August 2024 and seized control of about 1,300 sq km of the area in about two weeks. The operation was launched more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s counteroffensive included mobilising North Korean troops to fight alongside its own soldiers.
North Korean soldiers carried out “combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism in repulsing the Ukrainian invasion”, General Gerasimov said.
Mr Putin told him during the videoconference: “The complete defeat of the enemy in the Kursk border area creates conditions for further successful actions by our troops in other important sectors of the front.”
The Ukraine military, however, countered by contesting Russia’s assertion that Kursk has been liberated, saying that operations in the area continue.
The Russian general said more than 76,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded during the operation in Kursk.
North Korea’s troops entered the conflict after a defence cooperation pact called the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed in June 2024 by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Mr Putin. KYODO NEWS
