MADRID Jan. 14 () –
The United States Department of Defense recognized this Monday that the presence of North Korean troops in the Russian Kursk region, the scene of a Ukrainian offensive since August 2024, makes the fight “much more difficult” for the Ukrainian Army.
“Russia was able to get 12,000 North Korean troops onto the battlefield. It’s certainly a significant number. It certainly makes it much harder for the Ukrainians to fight. But then again, the Ukrainians are still fighting and they’re still doing everything they can. to maintain that line,” explained Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder in a press conference.
When asked if he has indications of a new shipment of North Korean soldiers to Russian territory, the spokesperson denied this possibility “at this time”, although he clarified that it is an aspect that his office is “closely monitoring”.
Hours earlier, the South Korean Intelligence agency put the number of North Korean soldiers dead and 2,700 wounded in combat against Ukrainian troops in Kursk at 300, while indicating that Pyongyang is pressuring its soldiers to commit suicide before being captured alive by part of kyiv.
For its part, the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that in recent days its troops faced a group of North Korean soldiers fighting in Kursk on the Russian side and that one of them blew himself up with a grenade to avoid being captured.
The Ukrainian incursion into Kursk began in early August, in an unprecedented strategic shift by kyiv since the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, ordered in February 2022 to invade the neighboring country. Russia, which has always defended the success of its counteroffensive, continues to suffer casualties on this front.
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