Around 11,000 personnel deployed by Pyongyang are believed to be not taking part in combat operations and are instead providing rearguard support for Russian forces
North Korean troops deployed to help Russia in its war against Ukraine are not fighting on the frontline due to a lack of training, western officials have claimed.
Around 11,000 North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia’s western Kursk region in October after Ukraine’s forces seized parts of the territory in August.
But it has emerged that the troops are not taking part in combat operations and are instead providing rearguard support for Russian forces, including logistics, manning observation posts and undertaking guard duties.
Ukraine’s National Resistance Centre reported on Wednesday that the North Korean personnel are undergoing general military training and being taught how to operate drones instead of engaging in combat.
On Thursday, western officials said it was likely that poor training and a lack of logistical support were the main reasons why North Korean forces were not on the frontline.
North Korea’s presence in the war was seen as a game-changer by the Pentagon because it posed the threat of a much wider global conflict, sources revealed last month.
It was said to have played a part in the decision in November by President Joe Biden to allow Kyiv to fire long-range US-made ATACMS and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.
Western officials said there was no evidence yet that soldiers deployed from Pyongyang were fighting on the frontline in Kursk, but were more likely to be deployed in the second echelon of Russia’s army.
Russia has continued to take back territory in Kursk seized by Ukraine.
It was also unlikely that North Korean forces would be fighting in Ukraine itself, western officials said.
However, Pyongyang has provided short range ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia.
Moscow requested the 11,000 personnel from North Korea due to the high number of Russian troop casualties since the start of the invasion.
Russian losses are believed to have escalated in recent months due to Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk.
A Ukrainian mechanic in a US Stryker armored vehicle after returning from a combat mission in the Kursk region of Russia (Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty)
Western estimates of killed or wounded Russian forces for November was 45,000, the highest monthly toll of the war so far.
These figures have not been independently verified, however. Ukraine refuses to release casualty figures for its own troops.
Russia is likely to be able to continue its military operations in Kursk and in Ukraine despite also taking part in airstrikes to defend President Bashar Al-Assad’s army from the rapid advances of jihadist rebel forces in Syria, western officials also said.
The Islamist HTS rebel group took the strategically important city of Hama – just over 100 miles from the capital Damascus – on Thursday, days after seizing Aleppo from Assad forces.
Russia’s commitments in both conflicts are unlikely to overstretch its forces in the short-term – mainly because its operations in Syria involve airstrikes and Moscow has thousands of glide bombs it can deploy against the rebels.
But if the HTS advances further it could cause Russia a problem in the longer-term, a western official said.
The sources also played down fears of a threat to US and UK bases in Cyprus after Russia carried out military drills in the eastern Mediterranean, close to the Syrian coast, on Tuesday.
The exercises, involving more than 1,000 personnel, 10 vessels and 24 aircraft and involved the test firing of hypersonic missiles, are believed to have been long-planned before the recent developments in Syria.