During the past week, the aggressor country Russia transferred more than 7,000 soldiers of the North Korean army from the Primorsky Krai to the regions near Ukraine.
Points of attention
- North Korean troops received mortars, assault rifles, machine guns and other weapons.
- The preparation of North Korean soldiers for the war against Ukraine continues at several training grounds in Russia.
- Experts emphasize that the participation of North Korean soldiers in the war on the side of Russia may not lead to the expected results due to large-scale losses.
North Korean soldiers are armed like infantry
According to Ukrainian intelligence, North Korean troops were moved with the help of at least 28 military transport planes of the Russian Air Force.
"Moscow has armed North Koreans, in particular, with 60mm mortars, AK-12 assault rifles, RPK/PKM machine guns, SVD/SVCH sniper rifles, Fenix ATGMs, and RPG-7s," the GUR said in a statement.
In addition, the North Korean soldiers, or as they are called in the Russian occupation army — "special Buryats" — were given some night vision devices, thermal imagers, collimator sights and binoculars.
In fact, the Russian army armed a new batch of foreign cannon fodder as ordinary infantry.
It is important to understand that the training of the North Korean invaders, whom Russia has decided to involve in the war against Ukraine, takes place at five training grounds in the far east of the aggressor country.
What is wrong with Russia's idea of involving North Korean soldiers
The American Institute for the Study of War noted that it is currently difficult to understand exactly how Putin intends to use North Korean forces to be effective in the field.
It is quite likely that they will immediately suffer huge losses and will not change the situation at the front in any way, as the Kremlin wants.
According to analysts, Kim Jong-un decided to take part in the war on the side of Russia in order to gain valuable combat experience in modern warfare.
But how the Russian command uses North Korean forces in combat will affect the ability of North Korean forces to meaningfully absorb and disseminate combat experience. If the North Korean forces suffer the same casualties as the Russians, the lessons Pyongyang hopes to learn on the battlefield will be undermined.
