North Korean troops will be cannon fodder' in Ukraine

The North Korean troops being used to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine face becoming cannon fodder” and their presence in the region will not alter the path of the war, said military experts.

- TOM WATLING

Hundreds of Russian troops are being lost daily in the war, according to estimates. While North Korea is believed to have sent around 10,000 soliders to the region. “In the big picture, even 12,000 soldiers don’t affect the general situation of the war significantly,” says Emil Kastehelmi, who runs the Black Bird Group, which tracks the war in Ukraine.

The troops are already under fire, being shelled in the Russian border region of Kursk, according to Kyiv. That is the area where Ukrainian troops have held territory, having started a daring raid in August.

“The first military units of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] have already come under fire in Kursk,” Andriy Kovalenko, Ukraine’s top counter-disinformation official within the national security council said on Telegram.

Questions have been raised about the calibre of the North Korean troops, not least because none of the group, which includes 500 officers and three generals, have any combat experience. North Korea’s isolation on the international stage means that its troops, which number more than a million, have faced nothing but training.