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Putin thanks North Korea for sending troops to Kursk: They defended our homeland as if it were their own

Politiko 2025-04-28 10:16:49

Putin thanks North Korea for sending troops to Kursk: They defended our homeland

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korean troops for fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, after North Korea confirmed for the first time on April 28 that it had deployed troops to Russia. In a statement released by the Kremlin on Monday, Putin praised the heroism and dedication of North Korean fighters, who he said "side by side with Russian fighters, defended our homeland as if it were their own."

Russia said on April 26 that its troops had fully retaken the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise operation last year. Ukrainian officials have denied the claim. Intelligence officials from the United States, South Korea and Ukraine have said that North Korea deployed 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia last year, the first major deployment of Pyongyang's troops to an armed conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But North Korea had neither confirmed nor denied the reports of the troop deployment to Russia until Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has decided to send troops to Russia under the mutual defense treaty he signed with Putin in June 2024, North Korea's Central Military Commission said in a statement. The treaty — considered the largest defense agreement between the two countries since the end of the Cold War — requires both countries to use all means at their disposal to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

The statement quoted Kim as saying that the deployment was aimed at "exterminating and uprooting the Ukrainian neo-Nazi invaders and liberating the Kursk region, in cooperation with the Russian armed forces."

"Those who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the homeland ," Kim said.

North Korea's statement did not say how many troops had been sent or how many had died. But in March, South Korea said nearly 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the war between Russia and Ukraine. At the time, Seoul also estimated that Pyongyang had sent an additional 3,000 troops to Russia earlier this year.

North Korean soldiers are disciplined and well-trained, but observers have said they are easy targets for drones and artillery strikes on the battlefields of the Russia-Ukraine war, as they have no combat experience and are unfamiliar with the terrain. However, Ukrainian military and intelligence officials have assessed that Pyongyang's soldiers have gained significant battlefield experience and have been key to Russia's strategy against Ukraine, to deploy as many troops as possible in the Battle of Kursk./ REL