North Korean soldiers kill themselves to avoid capture by Ukrainian Armed Forces

Significant losses and suicides have been recorded among the DPRK soldiers fighting on the Russian side against Ukraine , Ukrainian serviceman Kirill Sazonov said.

"Soldiers are killing themselves rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, probably out of fear of reprisals against their families in North Korea if they are captured," the fighter noted.

He also recalled that, according to the White House, in the last week alone, North Korea lost 1,000 soldiers killed and wounded in the war unleashed by Russia.

North Korean troops are suffering massive losses in battles with Ukrainian fighters, which are being conducted in the Kursk region. This was announced during a briefing by the White House National Security Council's Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirb . According to the United States, 1,000 North Korean fighters have been killed or wounded in Kursk in the last week alone:

"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders view these troops as expendable and are ordering them to launch hopeless attacks on Ukrainian defenses."

According to US and South Korean officials, more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to help Russia in the war. Ukrainian intelligence noted that Russia continues to use North Korean soldiers in hostilities against Ukraine. As a result, North Korean troops continue to suffer losses.

North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were given fake military documents with Russian names and birthplaces, the Ukrainian military said, amid claims from Kyiv that Russia is trying to conceal the presence of foreign fighters on the battlefield.

Recently, Ukraine’s special operations forces said in a statement Sunday they had killed three North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western Kursk region and seized their documents.

Their military identification documents “lack all the stamps and photos, the patronymic names are given in the Russian manner, and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the statement said, referring to a Russian region in southern Siberia bordering Mongolia.

But the signatures on the documents are in Koreanwhich “indicates the real origin of these soldiers,” the statement added.

“This case once again confirms that Russia is resorting to any means to hide its losses on the battlefield and conceal foreign presence,” the statement said.