KIEV - Ukrainian special operations forces have not seen North Korean soldiers on the battlefield in the Kursk region, inside Russia, for the past three weeks, suggesting they have been forced to withdraw after suffering losses, a military spokesman said Friday.
According to Ukrainian and Western estimates, about 11,000 soldiers from North Korea, an ally of Russia, are deployed in Kursk to support Russian forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
"The special operations forces speak only about the areas where they are deployed, and based on this we inform you that the presence of North Korean troops has not been observed for at least three weeks ," said the spokesman for these units, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko.
"We assume that they were forced to retreat after suffering heavy losses," he said in a statement.
The Ukrainian military spokesman for the Kursk region told Reuters news agency that he could not comment publicly on the situation. It remains unclear in which parts of the Kursk region the special operations forces are deployed.
Ukraine launched a surprise attack in the western Kursk region in August, in an attempt to distract Russian forces towards defending a new front, boost morale, and gain a terrain advantage that could be used later.
Since then, Russia has managed to push back Ukrainian troops, but has so far failed to completely remove them.
North Korean regular military units joined the war on Russia's side in October, according to Kiev and its Western allies, who say they were sent to the Kursk region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on January 11 that two North Korean soldiers had been captured alive on the battlefield by Ukrainian special forces./ VOA (A2 Televizion)
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