Ukraine and U.S. officials said that the North Korean allies and Russian allies have separated from the front line after suffering severe casualties in the battle with the Ukraine forces.
Officials said that the North Korean Russian army tried to withdraw the Ukraine offense within the Russian border and had not yet appeared about two weeks before.
In November, about 11,000 North Korean troops in Russia caused alerts from Ukraine and its Western allies. They worried that their deployment marked a sharp upgrade in the war in the past three years. But in just three months, General Oleksandr Syrsky, the highest military commander in Ukraine, said North Korea has reduced half of the ranking.
The Ukrainian troops fighting North Koreans described them as fierce soldiers. A Ukrainian official said that Ukrainian officials said that the chaos in their team and the lack of cohesion of the Russian forces quickly caused casualties. Since arriving at the battlefield, Korean soldiers have been left to himself. Few armored vehicles have moved forward, and rarely stop re -grouped or retreat. According to Ukrainian officials and front -line troops.
Critics of Ukrainian military leaders criticized the attack on Russia’s Kurusk region last year. At that time, the troops inside Ukraine were faltering while facing a long Russian attack. But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zlensky insists on holding the territory as long as possible, which is a bargaining chip in the future peaceful negotiations.
The longer the Ukrainian army holds Kurusk, the more embarrassing it is for Russian President Vladimir Putin (V. Putin). Although Mr. Putin vowed to expel Ukraine forces, he hesitated to transfer the troops from the main operations of eastern Ukraine, partly because his hands were strengthened similarly in future negotiations.
Enter that Fray and joined the North Korean leader and Mr. Putin’s allies Kim Jong-UN. According to the US intelligence agency, Mr. Jin proposed to send troops to assist the Russians in Kurusk, although Mr. Putin quickly accepted the idea.
Many soldiers are one of the best -trained special combat forces in North Korea, but the Russians seem to use them as infantry and send out the waves in the fields inlaid with land and mines, and are cut off by heavy Ukraine fires.
US officials said the decision to pull the North Korean troops from the front line may not be permanent. They said that it is possible that North Koreans may return new deployment methods after receiving additional training or in the Russians to avoid such a heavy casualties.
In any case, the struggle that expelled the Ukrainian army from the Kurusk region was far from over. A few weeks ago, the Ukraine forces launched a new offense in the area, but they were defeated by Russia’s defense forces. Although the Ukraine occupied the Russian territory of about 500 miles when sweeping the border last summer, the Russian forces could still take half of them.
In August, Ukraine invaded the Kulsk area and shocked the Kremlin. This is the first time in the decade between the two countries, including Russia’s comprehensive invasion in 2022, and the Ukrainian army occupied the Russian territory.
Zelensky praised the Ukrainian army’s battle in the Kurusk region in a speech in this week, saying that their efforts created a “buffer zone” to protect the territory of Northeast Ukraine from other Russian attacks.
Mr. Jin is likely to have his own motivation to help Russia in Kurusk. US officials said he hoped that Mr. Putin would repay this favor in the future to help North Korea’s missile plans and United Nations diplomatic support.
According to Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials, North Korea also provided millions of artillery shells to Russia, and now it accounts for about the ammunition launched by Russia every day, as well as rockets and missiles. Russia has been providing oil, food and some weapons upgrades for North Korea.
Last summer, Ukraine began to invade Kurusk for a few months in Ukraine. Mr. Putin met with Mr. Jin in Pyongyang, where they restored a treaty for mutual defense and military cooperation between the country in the Cold War.
