A battalion of soldiers from the DPRK is being formed within the Russian army. Several of them have already deserted – World – News

A battalion formed by soldiers from North Korea is being formed within the Russian army, the RBK Ukraine server claims, citing sources from the Ukrainian army.

Ukrainská pravda writes that, according to representatives of the secret services, 18 North Korean soldiers defected to the border of the Bryansk and Kursk regions.

RBK writes that a “special Buryat battalion” is being created within the 11th Independent Guards Airborne Brigade, made up not of residents of the Buryat Autonomous Republic, which is part of the Russian Federation, but up to 3,000 soldiers from North Korea. They are now being supplied with small arms and ammunition. According to unnamed officials of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russians will deploy this unit to perform combat tasks in the vicinity of Sudan and Kursk. In August, the Ukrainian army penetrated the Kursk region and occupied about 1,300 square kilometers and a hundred villages.

Ukrainian Pravda writes that 18 North Korean members of the “special Buryat battalion” defected in a place about seven kilometers from the Ukrainian border. An unnamed representative of the Ukrainian secret services said that the motives of the North Koreans are unknown and the Russians are looking for them.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have informed about the formation of a unit made up of soldiers from the DPRK, Rádio Sloboda points out and reminds that there is still no evidence of the involvement of soldiers from the isolated communist country in combat operations on the territory of Ukraine. However, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyon said that North Korean soldiers are fighting on the side of Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the claim a “journalistic duck” last week.

In early October, Ukrainian media reported that six North Korean army officers died in a Ukrainian missile strike in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia and North Korea strengthened their cooperation, especially in the military field. Russian President Vladimir Putin paid an official visit to the DPRK this year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Monday, without further details, that he had received information from the intelligence services about North Korea’s “actual involvement” in the war on the side of Russia.