White House National Security and Public Affairs Advisor John Kirby said Russia is treating North Korea's military as “expendable” by sending them into unrealistic ground operations in the war against Ukraine. .
“It is clear that the military leaders of Russia and North Korea treat these forces as expendable and are ordering desperate attacks against Ukraine's defenses,” Kirby said at a press conference on Friday.
“These North Korean soldiers appear to be highly indoctrinated and press ahead with attacks even when it is clear that the attacks are futile,” he added.
He pointed out that the mass casualties and mission failure of North Korean soldiers led to suicides on the battlefield.
“There are also reports of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, perhaps fearing retaliation if their families in North Korea were captured,” Kirby said. .
His comments came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the capture of a captured soldier, who died shortly after being captured.
“Today we received a report from North Korea about several soldiers, and our soldiers managed to capture them. However, they were seriously injured and could not be revived,” Zelenskiy said in a statement. mentioned in. Friday's lecture.
“This is one of the manifestations of the madness that a dictatorship is capable of. The Korean nation should not lose its people in a fight in Europe,” he said.
He called on China to put pressure on Kim Jong Un and the leaders of North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, to withdraw from the war effort.
Kirby cited widespread injuries among North Korean soldiers during a press conference Friday.
“We estimate that so far, over the past week on the front lines, there have been more than 1,000 casualties in this particular battle,” Kirby said.
