Six North Korean soldiers were killed on the Russian frontline near the Donetsk region in Ukraine on Thursday, according to Ukrainian news reports.
Unnamed intelligence sources told Kyiv Post and Interfax-Ukraine that over 20 military personnel, including the six North Korean officers, were killed in a missile strike.
According to the Russian Telegram channel Kremlin Snuffbox, three more officers from North Korea were injured in the strike and were sent to Moscow to be treated.
The Kremlin Snuffbox cited an anonymous military source who said that Russian soldiers were showing the North Korean officers how Moscow was “preparing for assault operations, for defense, how we counter American weapons” when they were attacked on training grounds.
Newsweek reached out to Ukraine’s foreign ministry via email and the Russian government via online form for comment on Saturday mid-morning.
Last year, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyiv’s military intelligence arm, reported the arrival of some North Korean servicepeople, including engineering personnel, to the Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk.
Meanwhile, the Center of National Resistance—created by the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian military—reported in September 2023 that Russian President Vladimir Putin persuaded North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un to send North Korean citizens to the Russian-occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk for construction work.
North Korea has been a major ally of Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine, which began when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Kyiv in February 2022. The United States has accused North Korea of sending artillery to Russia throughout the war, which Moscow and Pyongyang have denied.
In June, Putin made his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. During the trip, the Russian president and Kim signed a so-called “comprehensive strategic partnership pact” with a clause similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which essentially says that if one member state is attacked, it is an attack on all.
According to the text of the Russian-North Korean pact, published by North Korean state media, should either country “get into a state of war due to an armed aggression” the other “shall immediately provide military and other assistance with all the means at its disposal.”
When asked at a press briefing in June about North Korea joining Russian forces in Donetsk, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said it’s “certainly something to keep an eye on.”
“I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine,” he said.
Source: The Newsweek