North Korea forces in Russia took off the front lines

The North Korean soldiers who joined their Russian allies were withdrawn in a battle against the Ukrainian forces from the front lines after they were heavy, according to Ukrainian and American officials.

The officials said after they asked not to disclose his identity to discuss military issues and sensitive hideouts.

About 11,000 soldiers in North Korea in Russia in November caused an alarm in Ukraine and among its allies in the West, who were afraid that their deployment would indicate a major escalation in the war of approximately three years old. But in just three months, North Korea has shrunk by half, according to General Olikanander Serski, the highest military commander in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian forces who fought against the North Koreans described them as fierce warriors. But the lack of organization in their ranks Non -cohesion Ukrainian official said that the Russian units had prompted increased injuries. Since their arrival in the battlefield, the North Korean soldiers have left He defends themselvesApply with a few armored vehicles and rarely stop to reassemble or retract their ranks, According to Ukrainian officials and front -line forces.

Critics of the Military Command in Ukraine criticized the attack last year to the Russian Kursk region as a waste of resources at a time when the army stumbles inside Ukraine in the face of a long Russian attack. But President Voludmir Zelinski of Ukraine insisted on the territory contract for as long as possible, as a bargaining in future peace negotiations.

The longer the Ukrainian forces carry your corners, the more embarrassing the Russian President Vladimir F. Putin. Although Mr. Putin pledged to expel the Ukrainian forces, he was hesitant to transform the forces from the main Russian operations in eastern Ukraine, in part to strengthen his hand in similar future negotiations.

In that battle, Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader and Mr. Putin’s ally. Mr. Kim was the one who suggested sending forces to help the Russians in Kursk, according to US intelligence agencies, although Mr. Putin had quickly adopted the idea.

Many soldiers are among the best special operations forces in North Korea, but the Russians seem to have used them as two feet soldiers, and they send them in waves across the ground mine to be cut with heavy Ukrainian fire.

US officials said that the decision to withdraw North Korea from the confrontation line may not be a permanent decision. They said that the North Koreans could return after receiving additional training or after the Russians reach new ways to spread them to avoid such heavy losses.

In any case, the battle to expel the Ukrainian forces from Kursk has not yet ended. A few weeks ago, the Ukrainian forces launched a new attack in the area, but Russian defenses. Although the Ukrainians took about 500 miles from Russian territory when they swept the border last summer, the Russian forces were able to restore about half of that.

Ukrainian The incursion into the Corsak region in August The Kremlin shocked. This was the first time in 10 years of fighting between the two countries, including the full invasion of Russia in 2022, which took the Ukrainian forces and caught Russian territory.

In this week’s speech, Mr. Zellinski praised the Ukrainian forces fighting in the Kursk region, saying that their efforts had created a “buffer zone” to protect Ukrainian lands in the northeast land of additional Russian attacks.

Mr. Kim probably has his own motives to help Russia in Kursk. US officials say he hopes that Mr. Putin will pay good in the future, providing assistance to North Korea missile programs and diplomatic support at the United Nations.

North Korea also provided Russia with millions of artillery shells, which now represents about half of the munitions that Russia launches daily, along with missiles and missiles, according to Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials. Russia provides North Korea with oil, food and some arms promotions.

Last summer, a few months before Ukraine’s launch in Kursk, Mr. Putin met Mr. Kim in Pyongyang, where they recovered a treaty during the Cold War for Modern Defense and Military Cooperation between their countries.