Ukrainian Drone Footage Shows North Korean Troops Under Heavy Attack in Russia

Reports suggest that North Korean casualties in Russia have reached the hundreds.

A senior U.S. military official told AFP on Tuesday that the latest estimate puts North Korean casualties at a minimum of several hundred, including both minor injuries and fatalities. “The North Korean troops appeared to lack combat experience,” the official added. This figure is approximately ten times higher than the estimate released by the U.S. government the previous day.

Ukrainian forces have also reported significant casualties among North Korean soldiers engaged in combat in the Kursk region. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi stated during a video conference, “For the past three days, Russian forces have been actively deploying North Korean troops in attacks around Kursk. The casualties among these North Korean soldiers span all ranks, from junior enlisted to senior officers.”

The Ukrainian 8th Special Operations Regiment posted drone footage on Telegram and Facebook, claiming it showed North Korean troops under attack. The video depicts soldiers fleeing across an open field from pursuing drones.

While the video quality is too poor to identify the soldiers as North Korean or Russian definitively, Ukrainian officials assert that the targeted troops are indeed North Korean. They claim that the drone attacks over the past three days have resulted in approximately fifty North Korean fatalities and forty-seven injuries. The U.S. government has declined to comment on the footage.