A couple hundred North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine have been killed or wounded during battle in the Kursk border region, a senior military official recently confirmed.

The official did not provide details on exactly how many have been killed, but said the North Korean forces did not appear to be battle-hardened, which contributed to the number of casualties they had suffered.

The official provided the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which comes several weeks after Ukraine announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war.

The White House and Pentagon on December 16 confirmed that the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions. They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.

Russia forces attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses in a last-ditch effort which took an unexpected turn, as North Korean troops were deployed across contested battlefields and faced a slaughter.

North Korean units, hastily integrated after weeks of makeshift training alongside Russian Airborne and Marine elements, were expected to pave the way for a renewed push toward the strategic town of Malaya Loknya. Instead, their entry led to devastating losses and raised serious doubts about the viability of Moscow’s evolving strategy.

According to reports, Russian forces had set their sights on controlling Malaya Loknya by applying pressure along two principal avenues of advance originating from Pogrebki and Novoivanovka. The idea was to gradually encircle a substantial Ukrainian contingent holding firm in the northwestern woodlands, effectively cutting off a segment of the entrenched Ukrainian “Kursk salient.”

However, with Russian casualties already mounting and their initial offensives stalling, military planners turned to a third approach, introducing North Korean contingents in a forested lowland area. The terrain, situated near the Malaya Loknya River and the outlying town of Kruglen’koe, would have created the critical link between the two faltering Russian axes if successfully seized.

North Korean forces, believed to be relying on combat doctrines that have scarcely evolved since the Korean War, attempted a style of infantry assault that favored massed formations over maneuver and stealth.

Tasked with advancing downhill into the forests below, the North Koreans moved in large, densely packed columns toward the Ukrainian lines. The plan called for them to secure a foothold to ease the way for Russian reinforcements to follow. Commanders hoped that by stretching the Ukrainian defenders thin between the woodland and Kruglen’koe, they could ultimately stage a combined push forward — both from the Russian axes at Pogrebki and Novoivanovka and from the newly introduced northern vector.

Those expectations evaporated almost immediately. Although some drone training had been provided, the North Koreans remained unprepared for the scale and sophistication of Ukrainian drone surveillance and precision strikes. As their columns advanced across open fields toward the forest’s perimeter, Ukrainian-operated drones identified and targeted them with ruthless efficiency.

Artillery, now refined by precise drone guidance, rained down amid the advancing troops. The North Koreans struggled to adapt, and many who managed to survive the initial barrage lost unit cohesion as they reached the tree line. Huddled in scattered groups, they became easy marks for follow-up attacks, suffering catastrophic losses.

Grim footage from the battlefield showed some North Korean soldiers desperately pleading with Ukrainian drone operators to spare their lives, an indication not only of their dire predicament but also of the profound shock at the reality of modern conflict. Ultimately, their attempt to secure a stable foothold disintegrated into chaos. Instead of opening a path for Russian forces, the North Koreans left a trail of casualties and confusion, failing to achieve the momentum their allies required.

The casualty disclosure came as the Biden administration is pressing to send as much military aid as possible to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump seizes the White House. But a senior defense official told reporters on December 17 that the Defense Department may not be able to send all of the remaining $5.6 billion in Pentagon weapons and equipment stocks intended for Ukraine before January 20, when Trump is sworn in.

According to the Pentagon, there is about $1.2 billion remaining in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more. The official said the administration anticipates releasing all that money by the end of this year.

The $5.6 billion is in presidential drawdown authority (PDA), which allows the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine. That is a substantial amount of money, the defense official said, and while the U.S. will continue to provide weapons to Ukraine until January 20, there may well be funds remaining that will be available for the incoming Trump administration to spend.

Trump has talked about getting some type of negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia, creating some unease about whether he will provide Ukraine all the weapons funding approved by Congress.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been in a fierce battle around Kursk, and the official said Russia has been able to take back about 20% of the territory gained there by Kyiv. They said it will be possible for Ukraine to hold ground there for some time, but it will depend on how the rest of the fight is going, including the long-range strikes that Kyiv has been launching.

The officials said it was not clear if Moscow had asked Pyongyang for additional forces, but acknowledged that Russia continues to lose as many as 1,200 troops a day in casualties — including both dead and wounded. But so far, Russia has been able to generate enough forces to replace them.

MI Staff, with Lolita C. Baldor

WASHINGTON, DC

Oleg Petrasiuk (AP) and Efrem Lukatsky (AP)