The New York Times: Russia has assembled a group of 50 thousand military personnel, including from the DPRK, for an offensive in the Kursk region

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has concentrated a group of 50 thousand people in the Kursk region, which, in addition to Russian soldiers, also includes military personnel from the DPRK. The New York Times writes about this with reference to officials in the United States and Ukraine.

The group is expected to launch a large-scale counter-offensive in the coming days in the Kursk region, partially occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Currently, North Korean troops are undergoing combat coordination with the Russians in the western part of the Kursk region, the publication’s sources say. They estimate that there are more than ten thousand North Korean troops in the region.

The material suggests that the DPRK military is being prepared to participate in frontal attacks on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian official believes that North Korean soldiers will be divided into two groups: some of them will be in assault troops, others will be in support units designed to ensure security in the territory recaptured from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

At the same time, the NYT notes, Russia was able to concentrate forces without transferring troops from eastern Ukraine, “which allows Moscow to exert pressure on several fronts simultaneously.”

The Washington Post reports that military personnel from the DPRK were sent not only to Kursk, but also to the neighboring Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine. The publication refers to intelligence data received by the commander of the Achilles battalion of the 92nd brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuriy Fedorenko.

• Ukrainian authorities and their allies have been reporting since the end of October that North Korean troops are in the Kursk region. According to them, in total, the DPRK sent about 12 thousand military personnel to Russia to participate in the war, including 500 officers and three generals. The Russian Federation and North Korea did not confirm this information.
• The Financial Times newspaper, citing a high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence official, reported on November 5 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces entered into the first military clash with the DPRK military who arrived in the Kursk region. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also stated that the North Korean military has already suffered its first losses in the Kursk region.