On December 14, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) claimed that North Korean soldiers mistakenly killed eight members of Russia’s Chechen Akhmat unit in a friendly fire incident in the Kursk region. The North Korean troops reportedly attacked the Russian forces, mistaking them for Ukrainian soldiers.
According to HUR, the incident occurred due to a language barrier between Russian and North Korean troops.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported that as of December 14, approximately 200 North Korean soldiers had been killed in combat while fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky previously stated that North Korean troops were suffering “significant losses” but did not provide an exact figure.
It is noteworthy that Ukrainian and Western officials had warned in the fall of 2024 that over 10,000 North Korean troops had arrived in Russia to assist Russian forces in pushing back Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.
