First clash between Ukrainian Armed Forces and North Korean troops near Kursk, Russia – FT

Sources in Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) have confirmed that the first clash between Ukrainian forces and North Korean troops has taken place in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

Source: Financial Times

Details: A senior Ukrainian intelligence official confirmed the military engagement between units of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Ukrainian military to the Financial Times but declined to provide the specifics.

He said the clash took place in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine controls around 600 sq. km – slightly more than the area its forces controlled immediately following this summer’s Kursk offensive.

Over the weekend, DIU said that Russia had armed the North Korean troops in Kursk with 60mm mortars, assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, anti-tank guided missiles and shoulder-launched anti-tank rocket launchers.

DIU also stated that some North Korean soldiers had also been provided with night-vision devices and thermal imagers. A few hundred troops from North Korea’s special forces have also been deployed in Kursk.

Andrii Kovalenko, Ukraine’s top counter-disinformation official within the National Security and Defence Council, said on Telegram that "the first military units of the DPRK have already come under fire in Kursk."

Ukrainian officials and military analysts have raised questions about the quality and combat effectiveness of the North Korean troops, describing most of them as inexperienced low-ranking soldiers. "We will know soon" how well they can fight, one of the officials told the FT.

Another high-ranking Ukrainian official said that Moscow was already providing military technologies to Pyongyang to help with its missile programmes, as well as "money".

Russian leader Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday, 4 November.

Choe said that North Korea had "no doubt whatsoever that under the wise leadership of the honourable Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian army and people will surely achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to defend the sovereign rights and security of their state".

"Putin has not confirmed the North Korean deployment but he hinted at it last month, indicating it fell under the security provisions in the treaty," the FT reported.

Previously:
Last week, US and South Korean officials confirmed Ukraine's estimate that about 8,000 North Korean troops were sent to Kursk last month to help the Russian army drive Ukrainian forces out of territory they have occupied since August.

Top Ukrainian intelligence officials said that the troops are in barracks about 50 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and are preparing to engage in hostilities within "a few days."

Background:

• Earlier, the Pentagon confirmed that North Korean troops who had arrived in Russia for training had begun to move towards Kursk Oblast, with some of them already present there. According to the latest US estimate, North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia for training and combat operations against Ukraine.
• CNN sources believe that some of the North Korean military may already be in Ukraine.
• Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has reported that in the last week of October, Russia deployed more than 7,000 North Korean army soldiers to areas near Ukraine.

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