Reports continue to emerge suggesting that North Korean troops deployed to Russia have engaged in their first combat with Ukrainian forces. Analysts now suggest that the Russian military plans to integrate these North Korean soldiers into its units.
On Wednesday, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) released an analysis of the Ukraine conflict. The report examined the deployment and command structure of North Korean troops in Russia based on evidence from the initial engagement. The ISW highlighted observations from Ukrainian authorities that North Korean soldiers involved in the skirmish wore Russian military uniforms, posing as members of ethnic minority units within the Russian forces. This tactic has made it challenging to assess the exact number of casualties.
Ukrainian media outlets reported that the North Korean troops engaged in combat carried Buryat identification cards. Buryatia is a Russian republic bordering Mongolia. Previously, on October 20, Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya informed the UN Security Council that North Korean troops had been integrated into ethnic minority units within the Russian military and were wearing Russian uniforms. The ISW interpreted this as evidence that Russia aims to directly incorporate North Korean combat power into its forces rather than maintaining separate North Korean units under Russian command.
The ISW assesses that Russia is most likely to deploy North Korean troops to the Kursk region, which Ukraine attacked in a surprise offensive last summer, to counter Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian sources estimate that approximately 10,000 North Korean troops have gathered in Kursk Oblast and expect that additional North Korean soldiers, currently training in Russia’s Far East, will be deployed to the battlefield within weeks.
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