Russia is deploying “human waves” of North Korean soldiers, the United States said Friday, and at least one soldier captured by Ukraine has died from his wounds.
According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, some North Korean soldiers have taken their own lives rather than surrender to Ukrainian forces.
These suicides, he said, “were probably due to fear of reprisals against their families in North Korea if they were captured.”
South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency confirmed Friday that the North Korean soldier captured the previous day had died.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram on Friday that at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces mounted a lightning raid in August.
But Russia has since launched a counterattack and built up thousands of troops.
Kirby cited a similar death toll among North Koreans, saying more than 1,000 soldiers died last week alone.
This is in addition to more than 1,000 Russian soldiers wounded or killed every day, according to estimates by the British Ministry of Defense, with more than 45,000 casualties in November alone.
To complement its counterattack, Moscow turned to its ally, Pyongyang, who, according to estimates by the United States and its allies, had deployed some 11,000 troops to Ukraine.
Kirby said the North Koreans are carrying out “massive, dismounted attacks against Ukrainian positions in Kursk.” While these “human surge tactics” were ineffective, he acknowledged that Russia’s harsh attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was making it difficult for Ukrainians to weather the winter.
Neither Russia nor North Korea have publicly acknowledged the troop deployment.
North Korean troops are being treated as “expendable,” ordered by their leaders to make “desperate attacks on Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby said.
“These North Korean soldiers appear to be highly indoctrinated and launch attacks even when it is clear that they are futile,” he said.
While the exact number of North Korean soldiers who committed suicide to avoid capture is unclear, on Friday Zelenskyy said that while “several” North Korean soldiers were captured, they were “seriously injured and could not be resuscitated,” and suggested that some of They may also have been killed by comrades.
These troops were being sent to fight with “minimal protection,” he said, and were suffering “a lot” of losses.
Still, the Ukrainians have not been able to capture them as prisoners, he added.
“Their own people are executing them,” he said.
