Ukrainian Drones Are Hunting Down North Korean Vehicles Fighting For The Russians

17 comments

1. >**A drone just knocked out a Bulsae-4 missile vehicle in Kharkiv Oblast.**

   >Four months after the first North Korean anti-tank missile vehicles showed up along the front line of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, Ukrainian drone operators have hunted down one of the vehicles.

   >The six-wheeled Bulsae-4 was motoring down a road somewhere in Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine when a first-person-view drone from the Vitrolom drone group—part of the Ukrainian army’s 3rd Assault Brigade—chased it down.

   >The blast, observed by a second Ukrainian drone, seemingly cooked off some of the eight anti-tank missiles the Bulsae-4 carried in its top-mounted launcher. The Vitrolom group claimed the North Korean vehicle was knocked out of action. “We destroy the enemy every day!” the group crowed.

   >It’s the first confirmed strike on one of the growing number of fire-support vehicles North Korea has deployed to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war alongside thousands of North Korean infantry. In addition to an unspecified number of Bulsae-4s, the North Koreans have also sent dozens of M1989 howitzers and M1991 rocket launchers.

   >North Korean reinforcements are indispensable to the Russian war effort. Hurling assault group after assault group at Ukrainian positions in a desperate effort to take, or retake, as much territory as possible before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump potentially upends the politics of the wider war in late January, the Russians have been losing between 1,200 and 2,000 troops and up to a hundred vehicles every day for months.

   >The record casualties exceed the Kremlin’s capacity to recruit, train and deploy fresh troops and build, or restore from long-term storage, replacement armored vehicles. Total Russian losses after 33 months of hard fighting might exceed 730,000 killed and wounded troops and 15,000 pieces of destroyed, damaged, abandoned and captured heavy equipment. Ukrainian losses are much lighter.

   >A Russian offensive that kicked off in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in late 2023—and a smaller offensive that, since October, has targeted the 250-square-mile salient Ukrainian troops occupy in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast—has resulted in steady but small gains for the Russians.

   >But catastrophic casualties have robbed Russian regiments and brigades of momentum. “Russian forces will eventually make operationally significant gains if Ukrainian forces do not stop ongoing Russian offensive operations,” the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. concluded, “but the Russian military cannot sustain such loss rates indefinitely, especially not for such limited gains.”

   >Without those thousands of North Korean troops and dozens of howitzers and launchers, the Russian war effort would be even more fragile than it already is. That’s why the first Ukrainian strike on a North Korean vehicle in Ukraine is such a big deal.

   >To defeat the twin offensives in the Donbas and Kursk, the Ukrainians not only have to keep attriting Russian forces—they also have to start attriting North Korean forces, too.

   >That campaign has just begun.

2. Well it should be easy because the North Korean “vehicles” are actually just tandem bicycles made to look like big vehicles that are being driven by three North Korean soldiers.

3. [removed]

4. That truck’s missile launcher just turned into a Roman Candle. Happy fkn holidays from Ukraine!!

5. Ukrainian armed forces shoot at enemy – breaking news!

6. Does anyone still believe Ukrainian propaganda? Over the last 1000 or so days they have beaten the Russians at everything with the latest wunderwaffe. From what I’ve read, the Russians have been reduced to bicycles and yet they appear to have destroyed most of the Leopards, Bradleys and Abrams. Have we heard how they are doing with their F-16s? The reality on ground seems different. Maybe if they were more realistic there might have been more urgency on our part to provide weapons timely.

7. The fact that the west is just watching north Koreans attacking Ukraine and not doing anything is so pathetic.

8. This has gotta be terrifying for the North Koreans. They’re from a country where access to technology is nearly stone age by comparison. Having tiny little drones chasing you around and blowing you up has gotta feeling like a step into the future to them. Hell, it’d be a terrifying dystopia to me. Hopefully the ones that get to go home will remember that just is just a taste of how dehumanizing modern warfare can be, and advocate for peace. Let the rich assholes in charge fight out their disputes instead of us.

9. How many countries can say they’ve fought both Russia *and* North Korea? Especially at the same time? It’s insane what Ukraine is able to hold off.

10. I like to think Eye of the Tiger is playing in the drone control room.

    Edit: originally I wrote Fortunate Son for the Ukrainians but honestly, it’s much more fitting for the North Koreans.

11. Happy Hunting! Wishing you every success.

12. A dear friend I’ve known since 7th grade goes to Ukraine 2-3 times a year to build cnc-machines that cut drone parts for the war effort. He pioneered a suitcase that can operate a car remotely and I’m so fucking proud of him.

13. Everyone thinks these drones are great, wait til it comes to your doorstep.

14. I feel sorry for the NK soldiers, they are basically being used as cannon fodder. Maybe they volunteered so they could escape NK or maybe they were ordered to go, either way they’re screwed.

15. If you read and believe David Axe (to Grind), Ukrainian victory is always just around the corner

16. Good hunting.

17. Slapping the North Koreans around hopefully makes them less confident in rattling sabers.

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