ISW: North Korean Troops Preparing For War Against Ukraine

• 12.10.2024, 8:00

They may be transferred to the front by the end of the year.

South Korean and Ukrainian officials continue to identify North Korean servicemen who are undergoing training in Russia for possible future deployment along with Russian troops in Ukraine.

This is stated in a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

It is noted that according to Ukrainian intelligence, individual North Korean officers are observing Russian troops and studying the battlefield in the occupied territories of Ukraine. At the same time, the Defense Forces themselves have not yet seen North Korean units fighting on the side of the Russian Federation.

A Ukrainian official in a comment to The Washington Post stated that “several thousand” North Korean infantrymen are undergoing training in Russia. The military command of the aggressor country may transfer them by the end of 2024 either to the front line in Ukraine or to the border regions of Russia in order to free up Russian “reserves”.

Analysts also note that, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials, the DPRK military is likely to be in the occupied part of the Donetsk region. At the same time, it is noted that the recent missile strike of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near occupied Donetsk has already eliminated several of them.

According to ISW, the scale of the North Korean group that Russia can transfer to the front line or to the border is still unclear. Such a decision could facilitate Russian efforts to attract additional forces to offensive operations, and also delay the completion of the offensive, which the Russian Federation began in the summer of 2024.

Earlier, The Guardian wrote that North Korean military personnel are already in Ukraine and helping Russia, but some of them have been eliminated.