Ukraine has claimed that North Korean soldiers deployed to fight alongside Russia’s forces on the Kursk front line have been “withdrawn” after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday, January 31.
Intelligence agencies from the West, South Korea, and Ukraine have reported that Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 troops to support Russia in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border offensive in August. This marked the first time a foreign army had entered Russian territory since the Second World War, resulting in the capture of dozens of settlements and a significant setback for Moscow.
The North Korean troops, whose deployment was never officially acknowledged by Russia or North Korea, were intended to bolster Russian forces and help repel Ukraine’s advance. However, nearly six months later, Ukraine continues to hold parts of Russian territory, which President Volodymyr Zelensky views as a strategic advantage in potential negotiations with the Kremlin.
“Over the past three weeks, we have not seen or detected any activity or military clashes with the North Koreans,” Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, told AFP. “We believe that they have been withdrawn because of the heavy losses that were inflicted,” he added.
Ukraine previously reported capturing or killing several North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region. Zelensky has released footage of interrogations with what he claims are North Korean prisoners of war captured on the Kursk front. Ukrainian officials have also alleged that wounded North Korean soldiers were using grenades to end their lives rather than being taken prisoner.
When asked about reports of the withdrawal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to provide a definitive response. “There are a lot of different arguments out there, both right and wrong,” Peskov said. “It’s not worth commenting on every time.”
The deployment of North Korean troops had been criticized by Kyiv and Western nations as a dangerous escalation of the conflict. Ukraine says around 2,000 Russian civilians are living in areas under Ukrainian control, cut off from communication with relatives in Moscow-controlled territory. Frustration has reportedly been growing in the Russian border region over the lack of action by local authorities to secure their return or provide updates on their situation.
While Ukraine maintains its hold on parts of the Kursk region, Russia has been making gains on other parts of the 1,000-kilometer front. On Friday, Moscow’s forces announced the capture of Novovasylivka, a village in eastern Ukraine near a key logistics hub and a vital military supply route. The village is close to Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, which Russia claimed to annex in 2022 despite not having full control of the area.
