8,000 North Korean troops likely to join Ukraine war in ‘coming days’

Only weeks after arriving in Russia, around 8,000 North Korean troops have deployed in the western region of Kursk, where they will soon join the fight against Ukraine, senior U.S. officials said Thursday.

These troops have trained with the Russian military on infantry missions — including the use of artillery and drones and clearing trenches. Some have received Russian uniforms and equipment, U.S. officials said.

“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press briefing.

Blinken spoke alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts, visiting Washington this week. Just hours before, North Korea conducted its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, which Japan’s government said marked an advance in Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

The deployment to Kursk will stress Ukraine’s already tense defensive lines. Russia is suffering around 1,250 casualties a day in its offensives across the front, Austin said, but has kept gaining territory, now at a faster pace.

Still, Austin said Ukraine can keep defending the land it seized earlier this year in Kursk and hold steady elsewhere — with such high casualties per day, even 10,000 troops won’t last long, he argued.

“This 10,000 won’t come close to replacing the numbers that the Russians have lost,” Austin said.

The U.S. will announce more security aid to Ukraine within days, he continued, adding to the more than $60 billion in assistance already sent.

Meanwhile, North Korea is also continuing its military support for Russia with equipment, having provided hundreds of thousands of munitions and more than 1,000 missiles during the war, South Korea’s defense minister said in the press conference. In return, he said Wednesday at the Pentagon, North Korea will likely ask for Russian nuclear and military technology.

Given the U.S. has no direct relations with North Korea, and extensive sanctions already imposed on the country, it has little influence to stop Pyongyang’s assistance. Still, senior U.S. officials, including some in the State Department, have spoken with counterparts in China, urging it to intervene, Blinken said.

“They know well the concerns that we have and the expectation is that ... they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities. So, we’ll see if they take action,” Blinken said, without specifying what channel the U.S. used to speak with China’s government.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

美国高级官员周四表示，大约8000名朝鲜士兵抵达俄罗斯仅几周后，就已部署在西部库尔斯克地区，他们很快将加入对抗乌克兰的战斗。

美国官员称，这些部队曾与俄罗斯军队一起进行步兵作战训练，包括使用火炮和无人机以及清理战壕。部分士兵已获得俄罗斯制服和装备。

“我们还没有看到这些部队部署到与乌克兰军队的战斗中，但我们预计这种情况将在未来几天内发生，”国务卿安东尼·布林肯在新闻发布会上说。

布林肯与国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀以及本周访问华盛顿的韩国国防部长一同发表了讲话。就在几个小时前，朝鲜进行了最新一次洲际弹道导弹试验，日本政府称这标志着平壤核计划取得了进展。

向库尔斯克部署兵力将加剧乌克兰本已紧张的防线。奥斯汀表示，俄罗斯在整个战线的攻势中每天伤亡约1250人，但仍在不断推进，而且速度更快。

不过，奥斯汀表示，乌克兰可以继续保卫今年早些时候在库尔斯克夺取的土地，并在其他地方保持稳定——他认为，每天伤亡如此之高，即使是 10,000 名士兵也无法坚持太久。

奥斯汀说：“这1万人远远不足以弥补俄罗斯人损失的人数。”

他接着说，美国将在几天内宣布向乌克兰提供更多安全援助，此前已向乌克兰提供的援助总额超过600亿美元。

与此同时，韩国国防部长在新闻发布会上表示，朝鲜仍在继续向俄罗斯提供军事装备支持，在战争期间已提供了数十万发弹药和1000多枚导弹。他周三在五角大楼表示，作为回报，朝鲜很可能会要求俄罗斯提供核武器和军事技术。

鉴于美国与朝鲜没有直接外交关系，且已对朝鲜实施广泛制裁，因此美国几乎没有能力阻止平壤的援助。不过，布林肯表示，包括国务院部分官员在内的美国高级官员已与中国同行进行了沟通，敦促中国进行干预。

布林肯表示：“他们很清楚我们的担忧，我们也期望……他们会利用自身的影响力来遏制这些活动。所以，我们将拭目以待，看看他们是否会采取行动。”但他没有具体说明美国是通过什么渠道与中国政府进行沟通的。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。