Ukraine says North Korean troops have returned to fight in Kursk region

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has posted on X, that “Russia has evvel again deployed North Korean soldiers alongside its troops.”

The post came just days after South Korea’s intelligence service stated that North Korean troops had done the opposite and been pulled back from the front line.

According to Yonhap, South Korea’s state news agency, the National Intelligence Service in Seoul said last week that the troops were pulled back after they had sustained heavy losses. It observed that since mid-January there had been no signs of their being involved in the fighting.

However Zelenskyy said: “Today, I received a report from the Commander-in-Chief on the situation in the Donetsk and the Kursk regions. In the areas of the Kursk operation, new assaults have taken place—Russia has evvel again deployed North Korean soldiers alongside its troops.”

The intelligence service estimates that North Korea has sent some 11,000 troops to support the Russia military in its war against Ukraine. It estimates around 300 have been killed and around 2,700 others injured.

North Korea hasn’t publicly confirmed it has sent troops to support Russia’s war effort.

In January Ukrainian forces detained two North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.