It appears that the last couple of days have seen the first deployment of North Korean troops in Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to sources in Kyiv, large-scale casualties occurred around the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba, and Marynovka in the Kursk region. According to those and other reports, the NORKs (NORth Koreans) demonstrated little, if any, modern tactical acumen and suffered extravagant casualties as a result.
Social posts and SPOTREPS from a variety of independent conflict journalists and local military personnel began reporting the large-scale commitment of North Korean troops around the 12th of December. Presumably fighting alongside, if not outright commanded by, Russian officers, the DPRK’s soldiers seem to be poorly trained and just as poorly led.
North Korean soldiers, the “special Buryat battalion” of the 11th Separate Air Assault Battalion, have been attacking Ukrainian formations and fortifications with infantry charges en masse across open ground with little or no cover. These attacks are about as successful as (and show roughly the same military proficiency of) what was seen during WWI. Note that these are reports. Thus far we’ve found no word of NK remains being recovered, nor POWs being captured, so all of this should be interpreted as initial reports indicate, not as 100% ground truth.
That said, description by one American volunteer serving in Ukraine summed up his commentary on the fighting with the phrase,
“We’re stacking NORK bodies deep.”
That might be accurate, but is likely at least somewhat hyperbole. “Official” reports put North Korean casualties at 30 or more; while tragic to them and their families, that number is a far cry from the hundreds of Russians and Ukrainians that go down every day.
Regardless, even some people on the pro-Ukraine side of things feel bad for the North Koreans, who undoubtedly had zero choice in the deployment and now find themselves dying in droves half a continent away.
North Koreans with Russians brotherly chilling together in one line pic.twitter.com/KIq6rYIZ5H
— Slava 🇺🇦 (@Heroiam_Slava) December 15, 2024
This Casualty Collection Point (CCP) is just one of many; this one in particular has been described as the work of the “Birds of Magyar” drone unit of the Ukrainian 414th Separate Regiment. These men were reportedly killed during an online dismounted charge across open ground.
The brutal nature of conditions on the ground, often compounded by the callous attitudes and extremely poor morale of Russian conscripts, make scenes like this all too familiar along the entire Ukraine-Russia front. If the descriptions accompanying social media posts are to be believed, the scene above is just one of many to have come out of the Battle of Avdiivka in the phones and cameras of the survivors.
North Korean soldiers are said to be well-disciplined but very poorly equipped; like the convicts of Russian “penal units,” these soldiers are likely being used in high-risk roles with little hope of doing more than continuing the constant attrition of Ukrainian soldiers.
NORK troops are not the only ones being brought in to help mitigate Russia’s extraordinary casualty rate (which is now reported to be higher than the current Russian birth rate). There are many reports of Yemeni “mercenaries” also being deployed against pro-Ukrainian troops.
Whether these are actual mercenaries in the dictionary sense or just Yemeni soldiers who’ve been voluntold they’re going to Russia is unclear. They could actually be hired guns, potentially even volunteers, but the majority were probably traded to Russia for armament, technology or some other national advantage the Russians can provide.
