North Korean Troops Withdraw From Russia’s Frontline After Heavy Losses, Officials Say

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un agreed to a mutual defence pact last year.

North Korean troops are no longer fighting on Russia’s behalf in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, according to reports.

Pyongyang signed a mutual defence agreement with Moscow last year, promising to defend one another if a third party were to attack.

Ukrainian troops then crossed the Russian border in August in a shock incursion into the region of Kursk, seizing around 500 sq miles.

It’s thought North Korea subsequently offered up its troops to help Putin defend Kursk– but most of those soldiers seem to have now disappeared from the frontline.

Sources told the New York Times that the additional soldiers have not been seen at the frontline in Kursk for about two weeks.

From November onwards, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent around 11,000 trained fighters to help Russia.

The troops were reportedly some of the best North Korea has to offer but Russians allegedly used them as foot soldiers – meaning they’ve been regularly shot down by Ukrainian fire.

Anonymous Western sources told the BBC earlier this month that there were 4,000 North Korean losses after just a few weeks of fighting, including 1,000 deaths.

Ukraine’s top military commander General Oleksandr Syrsky also said that in just three months, the North Korean ranks diminished by half.

However, the US officials told the New York Times that the decision to pull North Korean troops off the frontline might not be a permanent move.

They may return after receiving extra training, or once Moscow has developed a strategy which reduces their losses.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence previously reported that Russian soldiers were struggling with their North Korean peers due to a language barrier which created operational struggles.

Coupled with disorder in the Russian ranks, and Putin’s “meat-grinder” tactics, North Korean troops have endured a staggering number of casualties and even ended up fending for themselves in some scenarios, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russia has managed to retake around half of the land in Kursk so far, while also continuing to push forward and seize more Ukrainian territory on the other side of the border.

But since Donald Trump has returned to the White House, he is pushing for a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war within 100 days.