North Korean troops reportedly pulled back from Russia-Ukraine front line

North Korean troops reportedly pulled back from Russia-Ukraine front line

According to reports, North Korean troops who were dispatched to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been taken from the front lines after causing significant casualties.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency on Tuesday, the roughly 10,000 soldiers Pyongyang is rumored to have sent to fight alongside Russian forces have been sidelined for a while. The report supports claims made by Ukrainian and US media about the troops’ withdrawal, which skeptics said could cause the Ukraine war to get worse.

The North Korean units have been halting combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region “since mid-January,” according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea.

“One reason for this may be the occurrence of many casualties, but the exact details are still being monitored”, said the spy agency.

After being captured by the Ukrainian army, a soldier identified as a North Korean is being detained by Ukrainian authorities in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. [Handout/Telegram V Zelenskyy official/AFP]

The North Korean soldiers had been pulled back after suffering significant losses, according to a Ukrainian military analysis released on Friday.

In Kursk, where it launched a shocking cross-border offensive in August, Ukraine has previously disclosed that it has taken control of or killed numerous North Korean units.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president, made available video of interviews with allegedly North Korean prisoners who had been captured.

In mid-January, the NIS estimated that about 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and a further 2, 700 soldiers injured in fighting around the region.

The North Korean deployment to Kursk, which neither Pyongyang nor Moscow have officially acknowledged, was supposed to reinforce Russia’s army and help expel Ukraine’s troops. However, nearly six months later, significant portions of Ukraine’s territory are still in use.

Seoul has previously stated that Pyongyang was preparing to deploy additional troops in response to the losses suffered by its forces.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, during which Pyongyang and Moscow have strained ties, the West has criticized the presence of North Korean troops as a significant escalation in the three-year conflict.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, visited the North in a rare opportunity last year and signed a deal with a mutual defense component.

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, praised Putin in a letter addressing Putin and declared that 2025 would be the year “when the Russian army and people defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory.”

War from above

While the fighting on the front line in Kursk, and in eastern Ukraine, continues, Moscow and Kyiv continue to wage war in the skies, launching barrages of drones and missiles at one another.

Four people were killed and 17 were hurt in a Russian missile attack on Izyum, in eastern Ukraine, on Tuesday, according to the governor, who was notified via social media.

“According to initial reports, the occupiers used a ballistic missile. Four people were killed”, Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram, adding that five people had been hospitalised.

In an update, he said that 20 people had been wounded in the strike that targeted the centre of the town, which lies some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the front lines. At the start of the war, Izyum was occupied for a number of months before Ukraine relinquished control.

However, thanks to increased troop size and weapons supply, Russian forces have been expanding in eastern Ukraine in recent months.

That superiority was to be kept by the North Korean troops in Kursk.

Quid pro quo

Meanwhile, Ukraine is nervously eyeing the return of Donald Trump to the United States presidency, fearing that it could fall further behind in the arms race should he cut Washington’s military support.

Trump, who has stifled nearly all of US foreign aid, made the suggestion overnight on Tuesday that he wants rare earth minerals in exchange for preserving the supply of weapons and other support.

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in September]File: Reuters]

The US president claimed that Ukraine was willing to engage in the exchange, adding that he wants “equalisation” from Ukraine for “close to $300bn” in support.

The Kremlin responded quickly to the reports, declaring that Trump’s statements show that the US no longer offers Kyiv unconditional support.

Source: Aljazeera

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