New details on the first Ukrainian attack on North Koreans in Kursk, Russia

• Ukrainian forces have attacked North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region, ushering in a new phase in the war.
• A Ukrainian official said the troops were wearing Russian uniforms and were hit by an artillery attack.
• He said there had been daily fighting over Ukrainian-held Sujah ​​since the first attack.

A Ukrainian official shared more details with Business Insider about the first clashes between Ukrainian and North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a cross-border counteroffensive in August.

Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Combating Disinformation, said on Monday that “the first North Korean troops in Kursk Oblast have already come under fire.”

This was later confirmed by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who described it as a “small engagement.” Rustem said the battle was a crucial signal that North Korea had joined the conflict.

In remarks sent to BI, Kovalenko provided more details about the attack.

“It was an ordinary combat operation in the Kursk region,” he said, describing how Ukrainian forces conduct reconnaissance, identify enemy positions and launch attacks.

He said the Ukrainian armed forces knew that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms had been deployed to various Russian army units in the region to train in combat conditions.

“An artillery strike was launched against a position where Russian and North Korean military personnel were located,” he said.

Kovalenko added that this was not an isolated incident.

He said there was “daily fighting” in the area around Sudzha, a Ukrainian-controlled town that is at the center of its push into the region.

“Of course there is shelling of the positions every day,” he said.

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On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that North Korean soldiers – numbering 11,000, according to Ukraine – had already suffered casualties in Kursk.

Kovalenko said the North Koreans would train for “several weeks” before being sent into combat positions.

He said they posed “a serious threat that requires additional resources from our armed forces.”

He also said some were being trained to operate reconnaissance and attack drones, capabilities that pose a future risk to South Korea.

Back in North Korea, they could use their new drone know-how “for future terrorist operations in the border areas with South Korea,” he said.

BI could not independently confirm Kovalenko’s report.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian intelligence has provided details about this military equipment allegedly issued by Russia to North Koreans, including mortars, rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

North Korea experts told BI that the military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang is a win-win situation for both countries. But on a practical level, they also spoke of the logistical difficulties that arise from combining two forces.

These include the conditions under which the troops are likely to work together – including language problems, racist tendencies on the part of some Russian troops and close monitoring by North Korean officials to ensure they do not desert.

Ukrainian intelligence also recently shared allegedly intercepted audio recordings of Russian military personnel discussing impending Korean troops in a conversation, suggesting a chaotic start to the North Koreans’ entry into the fight against Russia.