UKRAINIAN special forces managed to hold off North Korean troops for eight hours while hugely outnumbered, heartstopping new footage shows.
Troops from the Separate Special Operations Center “West” have been hailed as heroes for their victory in what is being described as their toughest battle yet.
Footage from the gruelling eight-hour clash in the Kursk region in western Russia was shared on the 8th regiment’s Telegram channel.
An accompanying statement read: “This was the most challenging and critical battle of our unit.
“Enemy forces outnumbered us dozens of times.”
“The eight-hour skirmish underscored the quintessential trait of a soldier – courage, as well as the exceptional level of preparedness within the entire unit,” stated an official report.
Grainy aerial footage as well as that from troops on the ground shows the Ukrainians facing the much larger North Korean force head-on.
The North Korean troops fighting for Vladimir Putin attacked the Separate Special Purpose Regiment using small arms.
Remarkably, despite facing overwhelming odds, the Ukrainian soldiers held firm and managed to retreat safely, aided by High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled armoured vehicles amidst enemy fire.
“This is unreal work and heroism,” viewers have said as they shared the heartstopping footage on social media.
Against all odds, none of the Ukrainian troops were injured in the clash.
While no enemy losses were reported, one North Korean soldier was captured in the video.
Over the past few days, the special forces regiment increased fighting against Kim Jong Un’s troops in the Kursk region.
On January 7, the 8th regiment reported wiping out 13 North Korean soldiers.
During that operation, Ukrainian forces managed to retrieve enemy weapons and other pieces of equipment as well as documents, Militarnyi reported.
A rifle fitted with a collimator sight was retrieved, as well as a drone detector, a Chinese-Russian “Azart” radio and a letter to the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
According to Militarnyi, an anonymous source from North Korea told Free Asia the first death certificates for the soldiers have been delivered to their families.
The documents allegedly state that the troops died while partaking in “sacred military exercises on which the honour of the Motherland depended.”
Meanwhile, two North Korean soldiers have been captured alive in Russia and are now prisoners of war in Kyiv, President Zelensky announced on Saturday.
The pair have been questioned by the Ukrainian secret service and one soldier has said he wishes to stay in Ukraine as he revealed the horror of North Korean soldiers being sent into Putin’s meat grinder.
When asked if he wanted to return home, the man told Ukrainian officials that he wanted to stay in Ukraine after 300 of his comrades were slaughtered in battle.
Zelensky shared a three-minute clip from the interrogation in which the soldier claimed he was unaware he was being deployed to Ukraine to fight Putin’s war.
He was allegedly under the impression he was sent for training and had been on the front line since January 3.
PUTIN’S CANNON FODDER
It comes as numerous reports have emerged from the conflict about huge losses of Kim’s troops in Russia as they are sent to the front lines like cannon fodder.
North Korean troops are being used as “human mine detectors” one Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel has claimed.
The troops walk in a single-file death march until one is blown up, he said, claiming that their commanders are “unfazed by loss of life.”
Lieutenant Colonel “Leopard” told The Times: “Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, [the Russians] just use people.”
Images have shown a line of dead North Korean troops laid out in the snow moments after they joined the fight on the front lines.
Numerous reports have shown a disturbing pattern beginning to emerge of North Korean troops being sent out on suicide missions on behalf of Russia.
Footage emerged recently of Kim’s fighters being sent to jog through snowy no-man’s-land and fatally soak up Ukrainian ammo.
Meanwhile, on a battlefield in Kursk, some two dozen men thought to be North Korean fighters were seen huddled together before jogging out towards enemy lines.
Ukrainian veteran Vitaliy, 35, told The Times it was “like a dream for our mortars and machine gunners”.
Other reports tell of North Korean soldiers and officials turning on their own people with troops reportedly executing their own wounded comrades to prevent them from being captured.
I was a North Korean soldier – troops will be used as ‘human shields’
by James Halpin
A FORMER North Korean soldier said the troops in Russia will be looking to escape the battle in Ukraine “from the beginning”.
Speaking to The Sun before North Korean troops were deployed in Ukraine, Hyun-Seung Lee, a soldier in the Kim army in the early 2000s, said the soldiers in North Korea will be forced to go the war.
He said they will be young, so they won’t be that committed to the fighting.
He said: “It will be individuals at first, but more like as time passes, I think there’ll be like a larger number of group defections, including officers.”
That’s because, Lee says, the Russians will likely treat them as “expendable” and even more poorly than their own troops.
He said: “Russian soldiers don’t respect them as their fellow warriors
“They will treat them as their human shields.”
Eventually, the North Koreans will realise the hierarchy and how they are being seen as “disposable” by the Russians and look to flee, Lee said.
He added: “I think they’ll die without any impact.
“Putin and Kim Jong-un would expect more from them… they won’t get the expected results.”
“So, [troops will be told] ‘don’t pick up any material from Ukraine government or in the South Korean language’ and ‘they [claims in the propaganda they hear] are all fake’, and ‘it’s not true’ if someone defects, or ‘if you’re arrested, you’ll be tortured’.”
But Lee believes the soldiers will be susceptible to any psy-ops the Ukrainian government uses to try and get troops to defect.
He added: “I would say, if Ukraine’s government conducts a psychological strategy against North Korean soldiers then the chances are really high [of defection] because they don’t have real motivation. It’s not for money, right? They are not getting paid.
“And obviously it’s [their motivation] not defending your country, and then your parents, and yourself. So it’s just that they are mobilised by the North Korean supreme commander Kim Jong-un.”
