Shortly after taking up positions on the Russian front in the invasion war against Ukraine, eighteen soldiers from North Korea are said to have already fled. Kremlin fighters now want to track down the fugitives again.
As Newsweek reported, citing Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, North Korean troops were stationed in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk Oblasts – a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Commanders try to cover up desertions
“The Russian armed forces are currently searching for the deserters,” South Korean newspaper Choson Ilbo quoted a Ukrainian military official as saying. “The soldiers have not yet been arrested and local Russian military units are reportedly trying to hide the incident from their superiors.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also convinced that North Korea has supplied troops to Russia, as he explained in a video message:
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s troops were intended to help Moscow in the southwestern part of the country, where Russia is still fighting Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk. According to Ukrainian and South Korean sources, “several thousand” soldiers were sent to Russia.
Kim wants to strengthen the alliance with his ally, Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. He has already promised Moscow “full support” and has supplied the country with weapons such as artillery shells in the past.
North Koreans killed in Ukraine
The information has not yet been confirmed by independent sources, but many other reports indicate that North Korean soldiers are actually in Ukraine or the Russian border area. In early October, Kyiv Post reported that six North Koreans were killed near the occupied city of Donetsk when a Ukrainian missile struck there.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.