Russian troops have assembled a 50,000-strong strike force to liberate the Kursk region, including Russian troops and troops from North Korea, U.S. and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times.
A new U.S. analysis suggests that Russia has been able to assemble the force without withdrawing its main forces from the front in eastern Ukraine, allowing Russian commanders to attack in multiple directions at once.
Russian troops have already begun recapturing some of the territory Ukraine seized in the Kursk region this summer. The Russian army has used missile and artillery strikes, but has not yet launched a large-scale offensive in the region, U.S. officials say.
According to Kyiv, such an offensive involving North Korean troops will begin in the coming days. Soldiers from North Korea are undergoing additional training in the western part of the Kursk region along with the main Russian forces.
As the newspaper notes, some senior officials in US intelligence and the Pentagon are becoming more pessimistic about Ukraine’s overall prospects, noting that Russia is steadily building up its positions both in the Kursk region and in eastern Ukraine. They believe that Kyiv’s failures are due to a critical shortage of troops.
One of them told the NYT that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ (UAF) invasion in August had weakened the Ukrainian army on other fronts, leaving it vulnerable to a Russian offensive. However, he also noted that Kiev still has strong defenses in the Kursk region and may be able to hold on to that territory for at least some time.
According to informed Ukrainian sources, the Russian Defense Ministry has supplied North Korean troops with modern uniforms, machine guns, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers. According to US intelligence, Russia has trained North Korean soldiers in artillery fire, basic infantry tactics, including trench clearing techniques. These data suggest that some North Korean forces will participate in offensive actions against Ukraine.
Other US sources specify that Washington is not sure whether Kim Jong-un has imposed any restrictions on the use of his troops in the war with Ukraine, but the US expects that North Korean forces will be actively used during the offensive.
A Ukrainian informed source for the publication noted that the DPRK troops are divided into two groups: an assault unit and support soldiers who will provide security in the territories recaptured from Ukraine.
US officials believe that it will be difficult for Ukrainian troops to retreat, and that Russian and North Korean forces will likely suffer heavy losses, similar to what happened on the front in eastern Ukraine. American and British military analysts estimate the number of dead and wounded Russian soldiers at an average of more than 1,200 people per day.