"Due to high losses"

Automatically saved draft

A North Korean soldier who was taken prisoner by Ukraine.(Bild: APA/AFP)

Officials in Kiev have confirmed reports of the temporary withdrawal of North Korean soldiers from the front in the western Russian region of Kursk. It is assumed that the high losses led to this step.

"We inform that the presence of military units from North Korea has not been felt for about three weeks, probably they were forced to withdraw because of the high losses," said the spokesman of the Ukrainian special forces, Colonel Olexander Kindratenko, according to the internet portal "Ukraijinska Pravda".

Kindratenko qualified that he could only speak for the sections of the front where special units were deployed. The daily newspaper "New York Times" had previously reported on the withdrawal of North Korean soldiers. According to the report, this was due to the high losses suffered by the units that Russia deployed in conjunction with its own forces to recapture the region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not wish to comment on this information.

North Koreans in action since fall
The first reports about the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Russia were made at the end of October. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and the ruler in Pyongyang, Kim Jong-un, had previously agreed to intensify cooperation in the military sector. From November onwards, there were increasing reports of North Korean soldiers being deployed in the Kursk region. In the meantime, Kiev has also made the capture of several North Koreans public.

The Ukrainian armed forces captured parts of the Kursk region in a surprise counter-offensive last summer. The aim of the operation was to force the Russian troops, who have been waging a war of conquest in Ukraine for almost three years now, to redeploy their troops. Kiev wanted to reduce the pressure on the front in the east of its own country.