A Russian soldier has spoken of how North Korean troops deployed to fight against Ukraine endangered their own unit by shooting in the wrong direction.
The claims in a clip posted on social media comes as Kyiv said that the first North Korean soldiers stationed in Russia’s Kursk region had come under fire. Concern grows internationally at the addition of a third party into the conflict.
Around 8,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to the Russian region where Ukraine staged a surprise incursion on August 6 and made swift gains, although Moscow forces recaptured a significant chunk of territory.
Video footage posted by pro-Ukrainian X account Victoria purported to show a captured Russian soldier speaking to the camera about his experience with the new recruits to Moscow’s cause. The soldier said members of his unit and 10 North Korean soldiers had been brought to the forest to dig trenches, and they were given all the warm clothing and food. Newsweek has been unable to verify the clip and has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Ukrainians captured a Russian soldier in the Kursk region. He decided to surrender because North Korean soldiers were shooting in the wrong direction and might’ve even taken out two Russians.
Here’s hoping that “friendly fire” wasn’t so friendly after all. But even if it was… pic.twitter.com/94r7fgRef1
— Victoria (@victoriaslog) November 2, 2024
“During the assault, the Koreans started firing at us,” the unnamed Russian soldier said. “We tried to explain to them where to aim, but I think they shot two of our own.”
“I decided it was better to surrender in this situation than to be killed by our own bullet,” the soldier added.
“Here’s hoping that ‘friendly fire’ wasn’t so friendly after all,” added the X post to over 26,000 followers.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Monday that the first North Korean troops in Kursk have come under fire, days after NATO and the U.S. confirmed their presence.
Geopolitical analyst Viktor Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military veteran (2014-2015), told Newsweek that Putin is turning to North Korean troops “not as a tool of winning the war but as a tool for solving urgent policy issues and propaganda.”
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“He is also buying time to postpone general mobilization in Russia or wait until the negotiation of a peace agreement pending the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections,” Kovalenko said.
Pyongyang will get money, food, and space technology from Russia in return for their contribution to Putin’s war effort, The Korea Herald newspaper reported on Sunday. It cited Wi Sung-lac, a South Korean lawmaker it said had been briefed by the country’s National Intelligence Service (NIS).
North Korean soldiers will also get $2,000 per month salary, making a price tag of around $240 million a year if 10,000 soldiers are deployed, he said.
Russia plans to form at least five 2,000- to 3,000-strong units manned by North Korean troops, integrated into formations with ethnic minorities from Russia’s Far East regions to conceal their presence, Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., has said.
