Photo : YONHAP News
The head of a Lithuania-based NGO claimed that North Korean troops sent to Russia have already been deployed to combat and suffered casualties in the first clashes with Ukrainian forces.
Jonas Ohman, head of Blue/Yellow that has been helping Ukrainian troops since 2014, told the local media outlet LRT on Monday that the first clashes between Ukrainian forces and North Korean troops took place in the Kyiv-controlled Kursk region in Russia last Friday.
Ohman claimed that in the first visual clash, all but one of the North Koreans were killed and the one who survived had papers saying that he was a Buryat.
Buryats refer to a Mongolic ethnic minority in the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia, and there have been speculations that the North Korean soldiers were issued fake documents identifying them as Buryats.
The NGO chief also said that there have been signs that North Korea is being prepared to play a role in the war against Ukraine, with the first indication coming six months ago, when the North Koreans were training with some Belarusian units in Belarus.
Ohman added that the first North Korean was killed in Ukraine a couple of months ago by a drone provided by his organization.