North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk area are struggling heavy losses and being left unprotected via the Russian forces they’re preventing along, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on Friday (27 December).
Zelenskyy, in his nightly video deal with, mentioned Russian troops have been sending the North Koreans into combat with minimum coverage and that North Koreans have been taking excessive measures to steer clear of being taken prisoners.
“Their losses are vital, very vital. We see that neither the Russian army nor their North Korean overseers have any passion in making sure the survival of those North Koreans,” he mentioned.
“The entirety is ready up in order that it’s unimaginable for us to seize them. There are cases wherein they’re carried out via their very own forces. Russians ship them into attacks with minimum coverage.”
Ukrainian and Western intelligence reviews say there are about 12,000 North Korean troops in Kursk, a Russian area at the border the place Ukrainian forces are keeping chunks of territory after staging an incursion in August.
Previous this week, Zelenskyy mentioned greater than 3,000 North Koreans have been killed or wounded.
He mentioned Ukrainian forces had controlled to take a couple of North Korean infantrymen prisoners “however they have been seriously wounded and it was once now not conceivable to avoid wasting their lives”.
Zelenskyy mentioned the Korean folks “will have to now not be shedding their lives in battles in Europe. That is one thing that Korea’s neighbours, together with China, can affect.”
“If China is trustworthy in its statements that the battle will have to now not enlarge, it must exert suitable force on Pyongyang.”
US: North Korean troops are handled as expendable
North Korean forces are experiencing mass casualties at the entrance strains of Russia’s battle towards Ukraine, with one thousand in their troops killed or wounded within the final week by myself in Russia’s Kursk area, White Space spokesperson John Kirby advised newshounds on Friday.
The quantity a ways exceeds the determine US officers have in the past supplied.
“It’s transparent that Russian and North Korean army leaders are treating those troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless attacks towards Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby mentioned, describing the North Korean troops’ offensive as “massed, dismounted attacks.”
In his feedback, White Space spokesperson Kirby mentioned President Joe Biden would most likely approve every other safety help bundle for Ukraine in coming days.
Previous this week, Biden condemned Russia’s Christmas Day assaults on Ukraine’s power machine and a few of its towns and requested the Protection Division to proceed its surge of guns to Ukraine.
(Edited via Georgi Gotev)