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More than a thousand North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were killed or injured in a single week in clashes in Ukraine. That's according to the latest estimates from U.S. officials. Military experts say it appears North Korean soldiers are being sent into battle with little equipment or preparation. NPR's Brian Mann reports.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Intelligence reports first became public in October that North Korea was sending soldiers to bolster Russia's army. Military analyst George Barros with the Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., says it soon became clear Pyongyang was deploying some of its best-trained troops.
GEORGE BARROS: The North Koreans have sent roughly a division's worth of troops from the North Korean 11th Corps, which is North Korea's special forces.
MANN: By November, Ukraine's general military staff was reporting they were already facing squads of North Koreans in the Kursk region, a part of Russia occupied by Ukraine where heavy fighting is underway. But Barros says intelligence reports from open sources, and Ukrainian and U.S. officials, show Russia is sending these North Korean soldiers against heavily fortified positions without proper planning, coordination or equipment.
BARROS: One-fourth of those Korean forces have been made casualties. The current estimate's about 3,000.
MANN: His estimate is somewhat higher than the number provided by U.S. officials. But in a briefing with reporters Friday, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby gave a similar account of how the North Koreans are being deployed.
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JOHN KIRBY: North Korean forces are conducting massed - massed - dismounted assaults against Ukrainian positions in Kursk. And these human-wave tactics that we're seeing haven't really been all that effective.
MANN: Kirby says there are credible accounts from the battlefield of North Koreans committing suicide after their assaults fail.
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KIRBY: Rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they're captured.
MANN: Moscow and Pyongyang haven't acknowledged North Korean soldiers are fighting in Kursk. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed in a statement last week his soldiers are now in regular contact with North Korean fighters.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
MANN: "They have many losses," Zelenskyy said. "And we see the Russian military and North Korean overseers are not at all interested in their survival." While it appears the North Koreans aren't being used effectively, military analysts and U.S. officials acknowledge this additional manpower backing Russia puts new strain on Ukraine's army, which faces a grim troop shortage of its own. Still, George Barros with the Institute for the Study of War says the presence of North Korean soldiers shows Russia is also desperate for troops, at a time when Moscow is losing an estimated 30,000 men killed and wounded every month.
BARROS: Yes, they have a net-net manpower advantage. However, the Russian system for force generation is really struggling to offset that 30,000-casualties-per-month figure. The North Koreans provided ten days' worth of casualties with that initial 10,000 investment.
MANN: So far, Barros says these North Korean fighters haven't been a game changer. More important, he says - Pyongyang has emerged as a major supplier of artillery shells and ammunition to Russia, allowing Moscow to maintain a grinding offensive this winter which has steadily gained ground.
Brian Mann, NPR News, Kyiv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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