North Korean troops are still fighting on the front lines in Kursk, though their activities have been reduced in recent days amid heavy casualties, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate told The War Zone exclusively on Friday. Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said media reports that those troops have not been seen on the front lines there in weeks are “wrong.”
There are still about 8,000 North Koreans battling Ukraine on the front lines in Kursk, said Budanov, head of the Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR). However, that’s been in a reduced capacity of late, and Ukrainian officials are trying to determine what the change means.
“We have to wait some time to see if there are any real changes or if this is just lower activities for a couple of days,” Budanov explained. The War Zone cannot independently verify his claims.
Budanov acknowledged to us that his comments contradict reporting by The New York Times and other media outlets about the current status of North Korean troops in Kursk.
“Reports in the media are wrong,” he avowed.
On Friday, the Times reported that “North Korean soldiers who joined their Russian allies in battle against Ukrainian forces have been pulled off the front lines after suffering heavy casualties, according to Ukrainian and U.S. officials. The North Korean troops, sent to bolster Russian forces trying to push back a Ukrainian offensive inside Russia’s borders, have not been seen at the front for about two weeks, the officials said after requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence matters.”
CNN, citing a Ukrainian Special Operations Forces spokesman, offered a similar take.
“The presence of DPRK troops has not been observed for about three weeks, and they were probably forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses,” Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko told the network.
In a statement to Ukrainian Pravda, however, Kindratenko tempered his remarks, saying “The Special Operations Forces provide information only about the front where our units are active.”
The recent spate of reporting about the status of North Korean forces follows comments made earlier this week by a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Some North Korean units have been pulled back from the front line in the Kursk region, according to reports from Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces,” Mikhalio Podolyak stated on X. “It turns out that even Kim Jong-un values the lives of his subjects more than Putin values Russians. The Eastern monarch considers losses of 40% of personnel unacceptable. Meanwhile, Putin sends wave after wave of people from Russia’s poorest regions to storm Ukrainian positions—on old Ladas, motorcycles, scooters, and even crutches.”
Last fall, North Korea sent about 12,000 troops to Kursk to help Russia dislodge Ukraine, which invaded that territory in August. They began to appear on the battlefield in large numbers by December.
Since then, they have suffered about 4,000 casualties, including killed and wounded, Budanov told us today. That coincides with figures recently published by the BBC, citing unnamed “Western officials.”
The War Zone cannot independently confirm casualty numbers.
Budanov chalked up those losses to “a lack of real combat experience” and conducting so-called ‘meat waves’ against dug-in Ukrainian forces with limited support. The North Koreans have been attacking “almost without any combat vehicles,” he posited.
The reason they are so willing to push forward on foot against Ukrainian drones and artillery is their fealty to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, Budanov suggested. That disregard for personal safety is “absolutely” making it harder for Ukraine to defend against, he added. You can see one of those assaults in the video below.
Those troops, along with tens of thousands of Russian reinforcements, have eroded the Ukrainian salient. However, the lines have held steady in recent days, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Ukrainian DeepState open-source intelligence group.
“Russian forces continued offensive operations within the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast on January 30 but did not make any confirmed advances,” ISW reported in its latest assessment.
While North Korean troop activities in Kursk may have slowed in recent days, Budanov repeated the assertion he made to us last week that Pyongyang will be sending Russia additional artillery and missile troops as well as more artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. Those troops would not conduct ground combat operations, Budanov said. North Korea has provided about 120 170mm M1989 Koksan self-propelled artillery guns and 120 M-1991 240mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Russia in the last three months, he told us earlier this month.
As we have frequently reported, this all comes as both sides are jockeying for territory ahead of any peace deal that U.S. President Donald Trump says he will broker, the details of which remain uncertain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said his country invaded Kursk to set up a buffer against Russian attacks and serve as a bargaining chip in future negotiations.
A large reduction of North Korean troops on the front lines – something Budanov told us is being analyzed – could ease pressure on Ukraine’s Kursk salient. The longer Ukraine stays there, the more bargaining power Zelensky could have.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com