North Korean troops leave Ukrainian front days after arrival: report

About 18 North Korean soldiers are believed to have left the Russian front; Kremlin fighters are said to have been looking for them.

The troops were stationed in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, about four miles from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne reported.

Intelligence officials quoted by the channel said the Russian military was searching for the North Korean soldiers while commanders tried to hide the desertion from their superiors.

Reports emerged that Moscow was planning to form a battalion of troops sent by Kim Jong Un to push Ukrainian troops back from Kursk.

Ukrainian outlet LEAGUE reported on Tuesday that the soldiers would be involved in combat operations in the country’s southwestern regions, where Russia is still battling Ukraine’s invasion.

North Korean soldiers were to form a “special Buryat battalion” named after the Mongolian ethnic group native to the region spanning Siberia, northern Mongolia and China, sources cited LEAGUE said.

Pyongyang and Moscow have been developing their relationship for some time and earlier this year pledged to provide mutual aid in the event of an attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June for the first time in 24 years when he and Kim signed a so-called “comprehensive strategic partnership pact” with a clause similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that states that an attack on a member Attack on everyone is.

Should one of the countries “enter a state of war due to armed aggression,” the other country “will immediately provide military and other assistance using all means at its disposal,” according to the pact published by North Korean state media.

Last week, South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said: “Since Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty similar to a military alliance, the possibility of such an operation is very likely.”

He said recent reports of North Korean troop losses reported by Ukrainian media a week earlier were likely true while speaking to lawmakers during a parliamentary audit, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The Kiev Post And Interfax Ukraine cited intelligence sources saying six North Korean officers were killed on the Russian front near the Donetsk region of Ukraine on October 3.

According to Russian Telegram channel Kremlin Snuffbox, three other North Korean officials were injured in the attack and sent to Moscow for treatment.

Last year, Ukraine’s main intelligence agency, Kiev’s military intelligence service, reported the arrival of some North Korean military personnel, including engineering personnel, in Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk.

Meanwhile, the Center of National Resistance, founded by the Ukrainian military’s special forces, reported in September 2023 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had persuaded North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to send North Korean citizens to the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions for construction work.

North Korea has been a key ally of Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine, which began when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Kiev in February 2022 and Pyongyang has denied.

Newsweek has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry and the North Korean Mission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the United Nations Office seeking comment.