- A Ukrainian brigade says it hasn’t seen North Koreans for a while in its part of the front in Kursk.
- It comes as North Korea abruptly reduced its presence in the war after weeks of intense fighting.
- But it’s unclear what Pyongyang is planning after conflicting reports of withdrawal emerged.
A Ukrainian brigade in the Kursk region said it’s recently no longer been encountering North Korean troops, as questions remain over Pyongyang’s plans for the war front.
Petro Gaidashchuk, a senior communications officer for the 80th Air Assault Brigade, told Radio NV that while North Korean troops were still reported elsewhere on the battlefield, they’ve “disappeared” from his brigade’s part of the front.
“If we look at January, the front was saturated with North Koreans, in particular in the area of responsibility of the Galician Brigade,” Gaidashchuk said in Ukrainian during the interview published on Monday. The 80th is sometimes referred to as a Galician Brigade.
“As of now, the reports of their presence are partially true,” Gaidashchuk said of the North Koreans. “We have not observed them in our part of the front. Other brigades interacted with them a few days ago. As of now, they have disappeared.”
Gaidashchuk said his brigade theorized that the North Korean soldiers may have withdrawn due to heavy losses.
“They withdrew, we do not know why,” he said.
Other reports in the last month have said the same: After weeks of attempting to storm Ukrainian positions across Kursk, North Korea’s forces have grown relatively quiet since late January.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s special forces told local media at the time that his branch hadn’t seen North Korean soldiers for weeks, saying that the Russian-allied troops had been “forced to withdraw.” The New York Times, citing Ukrainian and US officials, reported similar observations the day before, writing that Pyongyang’s forces were “taken off the front line.”
South Korea’s national intelligence agency also said in early February that North Korean troops had been pulled from the fighting.
Western intelligence estimates that about 11,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to fight Ukraine late last year and that about 4,000 have been wounded or killed since.
The UK Defense Ministry said the losses likely caused North Korea’s troops to temporarily withdraw and “rest and refit before redeploying.”
But Pyongyang’s presence in Kursk doesn’t seem to have disappeared completely.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on February 7 that North Korean troops had returned to the front lines in “new assaults” in Kursk, though it’s unclear to what extent.
Speaking to The Warzone in late January, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov also said that North Koreans had significantly reduced their in Kursk, but warned against dismissing them as out of the picture.
“We have to wait some time to see if there are any real changes or if this is just lower activities for a couple of days,” Budanov said.
He disputed reports that North Korean troops had completely withdrawn.
Zelenskyy voices triumph over Pyongyang
The uncertainty over North Korea’s next move comes as Pyongyang and Moscow strengthen their defense ties to weather the international sanctions imposed on their economies.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent troops, weapons, and ammunition to Russia, with Western intelligence reporting that he’s receiving financial assistance, technological expertise, and food from Russia in exchange.
North Korea sending troops to Kursk sparked concerns in the West that Russia’s invasion was drawing the direct involvement of other states. But it’s now unclear if Pyongyang’s intervention will escalate as feared or recede.
More recently, Zelenskyy spoke triumphantly on Saturday of Ukraine’s fight against North Korea’s forces.
“We completely destroyed the North Korean units that Putin had to bring in because his own forces weren’t enough to hold back our counteroffensive,” he said in his speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Yet he also cautioned against complacency when it came to Pyongyang.
“Make no mistake — North Koreans are not weak,” he said. “They are learning how to fight now, how to fight the modern war.”
Russia’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comments sent by Business Insider outside regular business hours.
