North Korea has suffered “several hundred” casualties while fighting Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk regions, a top US military official has said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to the AFP news agency, the official said Washinton estimated North Korean troop casualties had been suffered by “all ranks”, ranging from light wounds to being killed.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of soldiers to bolster Putin’s invasion which has left hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers killed or wounded since he launched it in February 2022, with similarly high Ukrainian casualties.
However, the troops are said to be poorly trained for combat operations and have found it hard to integrate alongside Putin’s troops.
“Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that the DPRK [North Korea] has suffered,” the official said.
They said the casualties included everything from “light wounds” to being killed in action.
“These are not battle-hardened troops. They haven’t been in combat before,” they added, saying their lack of training and experience was probably contributing to “why they have been suffering the casualties that they have at the hands of the Ukrainians”.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said earlier this week that Russia has used North Korean troops at the heart of an “intensive offensive” in Kursk over several days.
He said that Russia was "actively" using North Korean troops who were taking significant losses.
Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, but has since lost more than 40% of the territory it controlled.
Western officials have said they doubt the North Korean soldiers will be deployed into eastern Ukraine where the vast bulk of the fighting is taking place.
US President Joe Biden authorised Kyiv to fire long range missiles supplied by the US, and Britain, to strike at targets inside Russia following North Korea’s deployment.
Putin’s military is also getting backing from Iran.
The fighting comes ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House next month.
Trump has said Ukraine should be prepared to make a deal with Russia to bring the nearly three-year-old war to an end, but has not spelled out details in any plans under his administration to make that happen.
