
Ukrainian UAV strikes cause significant losses to DPRK attack aircraft - ISW
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainian forces capture the first North Korean prisoners of war in the Kursk region. DPRK troops conduct large-scale assaults, ignoring drone attacks, resulting in significant losses.
North Korean forces send large assault groups for combat operations, despite regular strikes by Ukrainian drones. This contributes to the likely high level of losses on the part of the DPRK. This is stated in an analytical report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UNN reports.
Details
ISW analysts noted that Ukrainian forces captured the first North Korean prisoners of war in the Kursk region.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on January 11 that on January 9, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces captured a North Korean soldier in Kursk region, and recently Ukrainian airborne assault troops captured a second North Korean soldier in the area. The SBU stated that the Ukrainian authorities are cooperating with South Korean intelligence to communicate with the prisoners of war, as they do not speak English, Russian or Ukrainian
One of the prisoners of war was carrying a Russian military ID card of the Republic of Tuva, which the Russian authorities reportedly issued to him in the fall of 2024.
The prisoner of war said that he had been trained to coordinate with Russian troops for only one week before being sent to combat and that he thought he was going to Russia for training, not to fight in Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian or North Korean forces usually kill wounded North Korean soldiers to hide their involvement in the war.
North Korean forces are reportedly deploying large assault groups to conduct combat operations despite frequent Ukrainian drone strikes, which likely contributes to the high level of North Korean casualties
According to the Institute's analysts, North Korean soldiers ignore Ukrainian drones and continue to advance despite drone strikes on personnel.
It is noted that Russian troops are following North Korean troops to "stabilize gains," but a Ukrainian soldier fighting in the Kursk region said that communication problems between Russian and North Korean troops may slow down Russian efforts to secure new positions.
The Ukrainian military also said that in December 2024, North Korean forces launched an assault with 400 to 500 people, during which North Korean forces outnumbered Ukrainian forces six to one.
ISW also assessed the DPRK army.
North Korea's ability to learn and integrate lessons learned from fighting alongside Russian forces is likely to be significantly impaired if Russian military commanders use North Korean forces in attacks with high infantry attrition rates on a similar or greater scale than most Russian personnel. The inability or refusal of North Korean forces to learn how to effectively counter drones will also negatively impact the lessons they can learn from this war
The American Institute for the Study of War also informs that Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains his maximum demands to isolate Ukraine and weaken NATO.
On January 10, the Financial Times reported, citing a former senior Kremlin official and another source who had discussed the topic with Putin, that Putin maintained his demands to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and demanded that NATO not deploy forces in Eastern Europe in any negotiations by "changing the rules of the international system to ensure that there is no 'threat to Russia
ISW's key findings for January 11:
- Ukrainian troops reportedly captured the first North Korean prisoners of war in the Kursk region.
- North Korean troops are deploying large assault groups to conduct combat operations, despite frequent Ukrainian drone strikes, which likely contributes to the high level of North Korean casualties and will likely affect the lessons that the North Korean military command will learn from the fighting in this war.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is sticking to his maximalist pre-war demands for isolating Ukraine and weakening NATO, and reportedly intends to insist on these demands during any possible talks with Western leaders to end the war in Ukraine.
- Ukrainian forces may have conducted a drone strike on an oil refinery in the Republic of Tatarstan on January 11, but details of the possible strike remain unclear.
- Ukrainian troops advanced in the Kursk region.
Recall
The Ukrainian Armed Forces and paratroopers captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region.