Asians in European Warfare

"Despite integration challenges -- including communication barriers and differing military doctrines -- the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia represents a significant shift in European and Asian security relations."

"For the first time in generations, troops from East Asia are actively engaging in a European conflict."

European Council on Foreign Relations analysis

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky estimates that some 11,000 North Korean troops are in Russia's Kursk border region (file photo) Getty Images

Now, for the first time in recent war history, Ukrainian troops engaged with the North Korean military units recently deployed in assistance to Moscow in its territorial aggression invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. The Ukraine military fired artillery at the North Korean soldiers deployed in the Kursk border region of Russia, verified another Kyiv official.

 

These represent the first official reports of Ukrainian and North Korean forces engaging in combat in a deployment that has taken on a new perspective in the conflict approaching its third-year anniversary. The engagement was deemed "small-scale" fighting, an introduction to combat for the North Korean troops in a rehearsal of more to come as a result of Pyongyang's decision to involve itself directly into the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Illustrative photo: details of the battle between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and DPRK soldiers have become known (Getty Images)

 

A decision was apparently made by the Kremlin to absorb North Korean soldiers into the ranks of Russian troops; the newcomers wearing Russian uniforms, complicating any effort to identify whether North Korean casualties have ensued as yet. General Umerov expects five North Korean units, each of roughly 3,000 soldiers will be deployed by Russia to its Kursk area on the border with Ukraine.

Head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine's Security Council, Andrii Kovalenko stated that "The first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region", a terse comment with no details appended. Western intelligence, in analyzing the inclusion of Asian fighters in the Russian conflict with Ukraine, surmised that the soldiers from North Korean were meant to be deployed to the Kursk border region. 

The three-month-old incursion by Ukrainian soldiers represents an embarrassment to the Kremlin, representing the first occupation of Russian territory to take place since the Second World War. American, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence are in agreement that as many as 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being prepared by Pyongyang to be sent to Russia under a newly-signed mutual assistance pact between North Korea and Russia.

According to the Pentagon, at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were currently newly-arrived in Russia close to the border with Ukraine. North Korea's 1.3-million-strong  army may be prepared to release more troops for deployment in Russia, according to an analysis published by the international think-tank, the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Western security officials say some 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed   Image: picture-alliance/Newscom