Ukraine claims that about 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in the war.


The Kremlin, which rarely provides details on casualties among its troops and those of its allies, directed a request for comment from the Associated Press news agency to the Russian Ministry of Defence, which did not immediately reply.

Russia and North Korea have not commented on Ukraine’s claim that some 30 North Korean troops have been killed or injured in fighting.



Ukraine’s military intelligence and the Pentagon have said that Ukrainian troops have killed and injured a number of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region.


According to South Korean, US and Ukrainian intelligence, an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia to fight on the front lines against Ukrainian forces.



Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as GUR, said on Monday that North Korean army units had suffered “significant losses” with “at least 30 soldiers” killed and wounded in the Kursk region, near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorobzha and Martynovka.


“Also in the area of ​​the village of Kurilovka, at least three North Korean servicemen went missing,” the GUR added in a statement posted to its Telegram channel on Monday.


Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, Pentagon spokesperson Major-General Pat Ryder backed up the Ukrainian Army’s claim, saying that the United States had found “indications” North Korean troops had been “killed and injured” in combat in Kursk.