Six North Korean soldiers killed on Russian front: reports

According to Ukrainian press reports, six North Korean soldiers were killed on the Russian front near the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine on Thursday.

Unnamed intelligence sources told the Kyiv Post and Interfax-Ukraine that the missile attack killed more than 20 soldiers, including six North Korean officers.

According to the Russian Telegram channel Kremlin Tabakierka, three more North Korean officers were injured as a result of the strike and were sent to Moscow for treatment.

Kremlin Tabakierka cites an anonymous military source who claims that Russian soldiers showed North Korean officers how Moscow “prepares for assault operations, for defense, how we counter American weapons” when they were attacked at the training ground.

Newsweek on Saturday morning contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email and the Russian government via an online form for comment.

Last year, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Kiev’s military intelligence branch, reported the arrival of some North Korean soldiers, including engineering personnel, in Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk.

Meanwhile, the Center for National Resistance – established by the Ukrainian Army’s Special Operations Forces – reported in September 2023 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had convinced North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to send North Korean citizens to the Russian-occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk for construction work.

North Korea is Russia’s main ally in its ongoing war with Ukraine, which began when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Kiev in February 2022. The United States has accused North Korea of ​​sending artillery to Russia throughout the war, which Moscow and Pyongyang denied it.

In June, Putin paid his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. During the trip, the Russian president and Kim signed the so-called “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Pact” with a clause similar to Art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which essentially states that if one member state is attacked, all are attacked.

According to the text of the Russia-North Korea pact published by North Korean state media, in the event that either country “declares a state of war as a result of armed aggression,” the other “will immediately provide military and other assistance by all possible means for its disposal.”

Asked at a June news conference about North Korea joining Russian forces in Donetsk, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it was “certainly something worth keeping an eye on.”

“I think if I were in charge of North Korea’s military personnel, I would question my decision to send my forces as cannon fodder in an illegal war with Ukraine,” he said.