Ukrainian forces fired at North Korean soldiers in combat for the first time since their deployment to the western Kursk region of Russia, Ukrainian officials claimed on Tuesday.
The exchange would mark the first direct intervention by a foreign army since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor got underway in 2022.
“The first military units of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] have already come under fire in Kursk,” Andriy Kovalenko, Ukraine’s top counter-disinformation official, said on Telegram.
The claims were bolstered by the confirmation from South Korea’s defense ministry on Tuesday that more than 10,000 North Korean troops had arrived in Russia, with a “significant number” in the frontline areas including Kursk.
The remarks out of Seoul come just hours after the Pentagon in Washington also said there were at least 10,000 of Pyongyang’s soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk, but could not confirm reports that they had engaged in combat.
Kyiv’s intelligence service also claimed that some 12,000 troops from Kim Jong-un’s reclusive nation, including 500 officers and three generals, were already in Russia, with training exercises ongoing across five military bases.
“We understand that more than 10,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia, and a significant number of them have moved to the frontline areas including Kursk,” Jeon Ha-kyou, a spokesperson for the South Korean defense ministry, told a briefing.
Jeon then echoed the sentiments from the Pentagon, saying he had no information when asked whether the North Koreans were engaged in combat.
He added that he could not corroborate a South Korean media report citing an unnamed government official that as many as 40 of Pyongyang’s troops had been killed in action.
The statement from South Korea comes a day after the east Asian nation and the European Union on strongly condemned North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia
Seoul and the 27 bloc union also jointly expressed concern that Moscow could reward Pyongyang for their assistance by helping the hermit kingdom with its nuclear and missile programs.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s frustration with Western help has deepened, after Saturday when he urged allies to stop “watching” and take steps before the North Korean troops reach the battlefield.
He said Kyiv knows which Russian camps the North Korean troops are being trained at, but Ukraine can’t strike them without permission from allies to use the Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russian territory.
Over the weekend, the Pyongyang and Moscow’s foreign ministers reaffirmed their commitment to implement provisions agreed between the two nations.
North Korea Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow and reiterated that the two countries would provide military and other assistance if either were attacked, as part of a strategic partnership accord reached by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in June.
The North Korean troops, whose fighting quality and battle experience is unknown, come at time when Ukraine’s battlefield situation appears to be on a downward slope.
Kyiv’s defenses, especially in Donetsk, are buckling under the strain of Russia’s incessant onslaught in the eastern region.
Moscow’s forces have recently accelerated their advance, with battlefield gains of more than 5 miles in some areas of Donetsk, according to the British Defense Ministry.
London said Russia has superior troop numbers, and despite heavy casualties, the Kremlin’s recruitment drive is providing enough new troops to keep the pressure on Kyiv.
These losses are the reason Ukrainian officials have long complained that Western military support takes too long to arrive in theater, and prompted calls for further aid and permission to strike targets further behind the Russian border.
