A Russian paramilitary soldier was accidentally targeted and killed by North Korean troops in a recent comrade-in-arms attack, Ukrainian officials said.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Defense Intelligence Service of Ukraine (DIU) described how Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) soldiers recently supported Russian forces in Kursk Oblast, currently occupied by Ukrainian forces. detailed.
Ukrainian authorities estimate that about 11,000 North Korean personnel are stationed in Russia.
“The aggressor state Russia has begun to use North Korean soldiers in assault operations in the Kursk region, especially as part of the joint forces of the Russian military's marine and airborne forces,” the statement said.
The DIU added: “As a result of successful fire attacks by the Ukrainian Security Forces and Defense Forces, the North Korean military has suffered sanitary and irreparable losses.”
“In particular, in one of the positions in the Kursk region, North Korean forces were effectively targeted by FPV drones.”
The DIU noted that in a recent incident, the language barrier between Russian and North Korean forces ultimately led to the deaths of eight soldiers from the Chechen paramilitary Akhmat special forces.
“Language barriers remain a problem in controlling and coordinating actions when using North Korean troops on the battlefield,” the statement said.
“Due to this issue, North Korean soldiers fired 'friendly fire' at the vehicles of the so-called Ahmat Battalion,” the DIU added. “As a result, they killed eight Kadyrovite soldiers.”
This latest development in the Russia-Ukraine war comes as Russian forces continue to take advantage of freezing conditions to attack Ukraine's power grid, crippling the country's largest energy company.
In one of the largest mass attacks ever on Ukraine's power grid, Russian forces fired around 100 missiles, including cruise missiles, and 200 drones across western Ukraine on Friday, according to the Kyiv Independent. It fired.
