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By Hugh Cameron
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Russia is reportedly assembling a battalion of North Korean nationals to help push Ukraine's forces out of Kursk.
As reported by Ukrainian outlet LIGA on Tuesday*,* citing a sources in Ukrainian military intelligence, Moscow will staff its newest outfit with troops sent over by Kim Jong Un. The troops may subsequently be involved in combat missions in the country's Southwestern regions, sources told LIGA, where Russia is still battling the Ukrainian incursion which began on August 6.
As well as losing significant levels of military equipment to Ukraine on a daily basis, Russia is currently battling with a severe manpower shortage in the war and has resorted to both forced conscriptions and one-time payments for troops signing up.
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In an apparent effort to remedy its waning forces, the North Korean soldiers will form a "special Buryat battalion," named after the Mongolic ethnic group, indigenous to the region spanning Siberia as well as northern Mongolia and China.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense to comment on the claim.
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The battalion is anticipated to comprise up to 3,000 North Korean soldiers and is currently being equipped with small arms and ammunition.
This North Korean unit will complement the Buryat presence in the Russian army, currently one of the most overrepresented groups by their percentage of the country's population.
A December 2022 study by Alexey Bessudnov of Exeter University, which exampled ethnic inequalities among Russian fatalities in Ukraine found that Buryats and Tuvans, a Turkic minority in Russia, suffered nearly four times the risk of dying on the frontlines as those of ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
This lends credence to statements made by Pentagon Secretary Patrick Ryder, who in June responded to reports that North Koreans could soon join the Russian forces on the frontline, and said that were they to do so, they would become "cannon fodder" to Ukraine.
During a June briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder responded to reports that North Korean forces could soon be included in the Russian forces.
However, these are not the first reports of North Korean troops being recruited into the Russian military.
In his evening address on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had shifted to a more direct involvement of North Korean forces in the war.
"We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea," the president said. "This is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces."
On October 3, Ukrainian and Russian news sources reported that six North Korean soldiers had died on the frontline near Donetsk, with South Korean officials claiming that further troop transfers would be "highly likely given the two countries' developing military relationship.
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