Decoding the Drone’s Eye View: North Korean Casualties in Ukraine
The digital battlefield of Ukraine continues to evolve, and with it, the tactics and technologies shaping the conflict. Recent weeks have seen a disturbing development: the documented deployment of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian forces, facing the relentless onslaught of Ukrainian FPV (First-Person View) kamikaze drones. Sifting through the raw footage and commentary emerging on platforms like YouTube, a stark picture emerges of this new dynamic and the brutal realities of modern warfare. The following analysis, based on publicly available video content, seeks to illuminate the devastating impact of FPV drones on North Korean units in Ukraine, specifically focusing on the events detailed in videos like those with titles referencing "North Korean Casualties in Ukraine." We aim to cut through the noise and provide a clear understanding of this evolving aspect of the war.
Key Takeaways from the Front Lines
North Korean Inexperience with Drone Warfare is Catastrophic: Multiple videos highlight the significant lack of preparedness and understanding among North Korean troops regarding drone threats. Footage reportedly shows soldiers failing to take cover, attempting to shoot down drones with small arms while standing in the open, and even mistaking toy-laden drones for harmless objects before it’s too late. This naivety in the face of a pervasive aerial threat is contributing significantly to their casualty rates. As one video description notes, "North Korean soldiers repeatedly failing to protect themselves from drone strikes… often panicked, and tried to shoot down the drones with small arms fire while standing in place."
Outdated Tactics Rendered Obsolete: The videos suggest a reliance on outdated infantry tactics, including massed assaults across open ground, making North Korean units prime targets for precision drone strikes. Descriptions detail how Ukrainian forces are exploiting this by "targeting North Korean concentrations in the forests, but also intensely destroy them as they move across the fields into the forests with FPV kamikaze drones." The open terrain of the Ukrainian landscape, unlike the mountainous regions of Korea, further exacerbates their vulnerability.
Language Barriers and Coordination Issues Amplify Losses: A recurring theme across several videos is the significant communication breakdown between North Korean and Russian forces. This lack of coordination manifests in instances of friendly fire, with one video title explicitly stating, "North Korean Troops Open Fire On Russians And Kill Them." The descriptions detail how "a critical language barrier led to a catastrophic misunderstanding, with North Korean troops mistakenly opening fire on their Chechen reinforcements." This internal friction further weakens their offensive capabilities and increases their susceptibility to Ukrainian attacks.
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Ukrainian Forces Actively Exploit North Korean Weaknesses: The analyzed videos showcase the Ukrainian military’s adaptive approach, specifically tailoring their drone tactics to exploit the inexperience and tactical shortcomings of the North Korean troops. The use of toy-laden drones to sow confusion and the deliberate targeting of clustered formations highlight a calculated effort to maximize casualties. One description notes how Ukrainian drone operators "repeatedly maneuvered their drones right in between the confused troops, causing the North Korean to kill each other."
The Human Cost of "Meat Wave" Tactics: Several videos allude to the deployment of North Korean troops in "human wave" assaults, a tactic that relies on overwhelming the enemy through sheer numbers. However, against the precision of FPV drones, this strategy becomes a gruesome exercise in attrition. One particularly disturbing description details a "human bait tactic," where "selected soldiers [are sent] to their death to distract Ukrainian drone operators." The footage, though unseen here, paints a grim picture of expendability.
Analysis: The Drone as a Decisive Disruptor
The emergence of North Korean soldiers on the Ukrainian battlefield, as documented in these YouTube videos, presents a fascinating and tragic case study in the evolving nature of modern warfare. The integration of these troops, seemingly intended to bolster Russian offensive capabilities, has instead highlighted the critical importance of technological adaptation and the devastating impact of readily available, yet highly effective, drone technology.
The videos serve as a stark reminder that experience with older forms of warfare offers little protection against the swift, silent lethality of FPV drones. Imagine the scene: a group of North Korean soldiers, perhaps veterans of past drills and exercises, advancing across an open field near Kruglenkoe. The air, thick with the distant rumble of artillery, is suddenly pierced by a high-pitched whine, a sound unfamiliar and unsettling. Before they can react, a small object, no bigger than a bird, hurtles towards them, the operator’s perspective relayed in real-time miles away. There’s a flash, a concussive blast, and the chaotic aftermath. This is the brutal reality captured, often in grainy detail, by drone cameras themselves.
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The language barrier isn’t just a logistical hurdle; it’s a source of deadly confusion. Picture the tense moments before an advance, Russian commanders issuing instructions that are misinterpreted or lost in translation. The resulting hesitation, the lack of coordinated fire support, becomes a fatal flaw, leaving North Korean units exposed and vulnerable to Ukrainian drone operators patrolling the skies. The reports of friendly fire incidents are not just statistics; they are human tragedies born from a lack of trust and understanding in the heat of battle.
The Ukrainian adaptation to this new adversary is also noteworthy. The deployment of drones with attached toys, seemingly a crude tactic, speaks volumes about the psychological element of this conflict. The brief moment of confusion, the flicker of disbelief as a child’s plaything hurtles towards them – that hesitation can be the difference between life and death. It highlights the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Ukrainian forces in exploiting the specific vulnerabilities of their enemy.
Strategic Insights from the Drone’s Shadow
The videos analyzed paint a concerning picture of the North Korean deployment in Ukraine. Their lack of preparedness for the pervasive drone threat, coupled with outdated tactics and communication issues, has resulted in significant and likely unsustainable casualties. The FPV drone has emerged not just as a tactical weapon, but as a strategic disruptor, capable of negating numerical advantages and exposing the vulnerabilities of forces unprepared for its omnipresent threat. This situation underscores the rapid evolution of warfare and the critical need for adaptation in the face of emerging technologies. The fields of Ukraine are becoming a harsh proving ground, demonstrating the decisive impact of even relatively inexpensive drone technology on the modern battlefield.
Scroll down to witness the video highlights and gain a deeper understanding of this evolving conflict dynamic.
The videos await below
27 Dec: Putin is FURIOUS. Confused North Koreans KILL THE WRONG ENEMY. | War in Ukraine ExplainedReporting from Ukraine784,982 views | 29,374 | December 27 2024 19:00:30 (1,260 comments)[ Read more … ]
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Today, the biggest updates are coming from the Kursk direction.
Here, as North Korean assaults suffer disastrous losses with little to no results, Russian commanders turned to Chechen special forces to bolster their failing efforts. However, a critical language barrier led to a catastrophic misunderstanding, with North Korean troops mistakenly opening fire on their Chechen reinforcements, resulting in even more devastating losses and further unraveling the offensive.
The main Russian offensive effort remains to take control of Kruglenkoe and the surrounding forests to advance further on Malaya Loknya and cut off the northern part of the Ukrainian salient. To accomplish this objective, Russians started reinforcing the new batches of North Korean meat waves with Chechen special operators.
As you remember from a previous report, Ukrainians have devised a plan to counter the North Korean tactic of overwhelming the Ukrainian defenses through sheer numbers. Ukrainians start by pulling back from disadvantageous positions, allowing North Koreans to take them instead, before annihilating the position with artillery and cluster munitions, launching clean-up raids with special forces to clear out the remaining survivors.
To maximize the damage, Ukrainians are not only targeting North Korean concentrations in the forests, but also intensely destroy them as they move across the fields into the forests with FPV kamikaze drones. This prevents North Koreans from even reaching the forest, and undermines any significant buildup of forces, which the North Koreans desperately need to use their tactics of human wave assaults. The footage shows that North Koreans still do not receive any armored support from their Russian allies, forcing them to continue moving through the open fields on foot, in full exposure to Ukrainian drone operators, which, by this time, are already heavily patrolling the fields along with any other entryway into the forest. The lack of further progress prompted the Russian commanders to reinforce this axis with more experienced Chechen units.
However, recently the Institute for the Study of War, as well as the Ukrainian intelligence service, stated that North Koreans are facing significant coordination issues with Russians and Chechens due to the language barrier between them, undermining their combined offensives. This possibly explains the lack of Russian fire support for the North Korean assaults. While Russians have somewhat intensified their artillery and air bombardments on the Kruglenkoe section of the front, these strikes are almost never done in coordination with a North Korean assault, drastically decreasing both of their effectiveness.
Moreover, the Institute for the Study of War reported that a North Korean contingent in the Kursk direction had fired upon a deployed group of Chechen Akhmat special forces, mistaking them for Ukrainians. Reportedly, the North Koreans had opened fire on the Chechen convoy, damaging and destroying several vehicles, and killing eight of the Spetsnaz soldiers. This is not the only communication error that Russian soldiers have reported, as many stories of Russians being nearly killed by the on-edge North Koreans have become public. The Institute for the Study of War states that the poor integration and ongoing communication issues will likely continue to cause friction between Russian and North Korean forces, in both their current and future military operations in the Kursk region.
Overall, the language barrier between Russian and North Korean forces has become the new biggest problem for the newfound military partnership on the ground, even leading to the controversial friendly fire incident between the North Koreans and Chechen Akhmat special forces. The inability to coordinate their combined operations, has led to a lack of targeted armor and fire support for the North Korean attacks, severely undermining their effectiveness. Ukrainians, therefore, are continuing to find innovative ways to exploit these blatant weaknesses, not only targeting North Koreans when they are bunched up in the forests but also preventing them from bunching up in the first place, targeting any movement across the fields through drone strikes with surgical precision.
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23 Dec: Ukrainians TURN NORTH KOREANS AGAINST EACH OTHER With Drones | War in Ukraine ExplainedReporting from Ukraine504,049 views | 27,158 | December 23 2024 19:00:16 (1,001 comments)[ Read more … ]
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Today, there are a lot of interesting updates from the Kursk direction.
Here, the North Korean forces find themselves thrust into a conflict shaped by technologies and tactics far beyond their experience. Their struggle to contend with the relentless presence of drones reveals a dangerous gap in preparedness, setting the stage for a harsh lesson in the realities of modern warfare.
After a week of relentless human wave assaults by the North Korean soldiers, they failed to achieve their primary goal of retaking a significant part of the Kursk Salient. Similarly, the Russians cannot present the limited gains as a victory, because it would mean admitting to the integration of foreign North Korean troops to fill their ranks, as domestic recruitment fails to compensate for the Russian losses.
The failure of the North Korean assaults can be largely attributed to their troops’ lack of experience with modern warfare and their inability to adapt. North Korea’s decades of isolation from the outside world, with minimal external influence or exposure, have left its military doctrine severely outdated, rooted in strategies dating back to the Korean War over seventy years ago. One of their largest shortcomings has shown to be the inability to adapt to the unprecedented use of drones, which take a central role in modern Ukrainian combat operations. Their limited understanding of advanced reconnaissance and precision strikes, made possible by Ukrainians’ extensive drone warfare, allowed Ukrainian forces to inflict devastating losses on every assault. As a result, North Korean units performed even worse than even the least capable Russian assault units.
During their initial assaults, North Korean forces failed to recognize drones as a serious threat, advancing slowly across open fields, underestimating the danger from the skies. The soldiers did not attempt to maneuver or evade FPV drone strikes, while Ukrainian drone operators, skilled in targeting fast-moving troops, exploited their vulnerabilities. This lack of awareness made the North Koreans easy targets, with even inexperienced Ukrainian drone operators using single FPV drones to decimate large infantry formations.
After suffering heavy losses in their initial encounters with drones, North Korean commanders attempted to adapt by setting up observation points and instructing soldiers to listen for buzzing sounds and scan the skies.
However, these efforts had little impact on the Ukrainian drone operators, as the North Koreans lacked electronic warfare countermeasures or other advanced systems, leaving them vulnerable to continued drone strikes. Combat footage from the area shows North Korean soldiers repeatedly failing to protect themselves from drone strikes. Instead of attempting to maneuver, take cover, or lie down to reduce exposure, the soldiers often panicked, and tried to shoot down the drones with small arms fire while standing in place. Ukrainian drone operators took advantage of this, and repeatedly maneuvered their drones right in between the confused troops, causing the North Korean to kill each other, as they tried and failed to shoot down the drones.
Additionally, the North Korean soldiers stationed themselves on the outer edges of forests, remaining bunched together instead of moving deeper into the woods. By doing so, they missed an opportunity to use the dense trees and terrain to disrupt drone signals, which could have reduced the effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes. This tactical error allowed Ukrainian drone operators to target and eliminate large groups of North Korean troops with just a few drone strikes, even after the soldiers had reached their objectives within the forests.
To further exploit the North Korean soldiers’ lack of familiarity with drones, the Ukrainians attached small stuffed Christmas toys to some of their drones. This tactic caused additional confusion among the North Korean troops, who wasted precious seconds trying to comprehend why a toy was flying toward them. By the time they realized the threat, it was too late; these drones effectively struck, eliminating large numbers of soldiers in a single attack.
Overall, the North Koreans continued reliance on outdated assault tactics, coupled with their inability to adapt to modern warfare, resulted in catastrophic losses across all their units. South Korean Military Intelligence attributed the high casualties to their inexperience with drone warfare and their unfamiliarity with the open terrain, as North Koreans are more accustomed to the more mountainous terrain of Korea. To address these issues, Russian and North Korean commanders may need to pause operations, to train their troops in counter-drone measures, and overhaul North Korean combat tactics, a process that could delay the Kursk counteroffensive by weeks or even months.
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30 Dec: FOOTAGE. North Korean Human Sacrifice Tactic: Using Human Bait for Drones. | War in UkraineReporting from Ukraine377,895 views | 23,324 | December 30 2024 19:00:05 (644 comments)[ Read more … ]
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Today, there are a lot of interesting updates from the Kursk direction.
Here, in a desperate attempt to break through Ukrainian defenses near Kruglenkoe, North Korean troops resorted to human bait tactics, sending selected soldiers to their death to distract Ukrainian drone operators. However, their poorly executed strategy led to catastrophic losses, leaving the battlefield littered with bodies, and no results to show for it.
Recently, the Russian command decided to re-prioritize their advance in the area of Kruglenke, to achieve the primary goal of their current phase of the counteroffensive. These series of attacks play a vital role in the achievement of their broader operational goal of taking Malaya Loknya and eliminating the northern part of the Kursk salient.
Previously, Russian forces failed in their flank attack north of Novoivanovka, diminishing their chances of bypassing the main Ukrainian defenses in and around the village. This failure prevents them from accelerating their advance toward Malaya Loknya, as the main highway to the town remains under Ukrainian control. Consequently, their only viable option is to persist with attacks near Kruglenke, where breaching Ukrainian defenses could enable them to advance on Malaya Loknya.
The tactical terrain around the Kruglenkoe area provides North Korean fighters with the opportunity to gather and prepare for assaults within the nearby forests. These wooded areas serve as a natural cover, enabling the North Koreans to amass their forces in significant numbers. This buildup aims to achieve numerical superiority, which they intend to leverage in a large-scale onslaught to overwhelm and bypass Ukrainian defenses.
To conduct the assault, North Koreans must move large assault groups across open fields, making them highly vulnerable to Ukrainian drone reconnaissance, FPV drone strikes, and artillery fire. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the poor training and preparation of North Korean soldiers for such scenarios. Documents recovered from killed North Korean soldiers reveal their primary anti-drone tactic involves using live bait—one soldier running to distract the drone while two others attempt to shoot it down with small arms fire. However, this tactic proves ineffective, as their tendency to move in large, clustered groups allows Ukrainian drone operators and artillery to neutralize multiple soldiers with a single strike.
The North Korean lack of training and familiarity with modern technology and warfare leaves them highly vulnerable to precision strikes by Ukrainian forces. Unaware that their movements toward the forests were being monitored by drones, the North Koreans failed to conceal their approach effectively. Ukrainian drone operators quickly identified their positions upon their arrival in the forests and relayed the coordinates to artillery units. This enabled Ukrainian forces to deliver devastating strikes using artillery and cluster munitions against the concentrated North Korean troops, exploiting their lack of tactical awareness.
The remaining survivors are subsequently hunted down and destroyed by newly arrived Ukrainian drone operators, who found it easier to eliminate North Korean soldiers than their previous training targets, due to North Koreans being bunched up. Overall, the Russian generals deployed North Korean forces in yet another assault where their lack of training became a significant advantage for the Ukrainian defenders. The Ukrainians successfully detected and eliminated large concentrations of North Korean soldiers, exposing the vulnerabilities of poorly coordinated tactics. This assault once again highlighted the impracticality of the North Koreans’ improvised methods against drones and artillery. Despite repeated failures, North Korean commanders remain oblivious to the primary cause of their heavy losses—the tendency to cluster their troops in large groups. This approach continues to make them easy targets for Ukrainian precision strikes, resulting in unsustainable casualties that are likely to persist unless their tactics are fundamentally restructured.
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North Korea’s 1st Platoon Attack Was A DISASTER!Combat Veteran Reacts189,215 views | 12,427 | December 17 2024 23:00:31 (804 comments)[ Read more … ]
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Abrams Tanks Clash with North Korean Forces..My Global issues1,035,342 views | 20,657 | December 27 2024 13:45:02 (1,543 comments)[ Read more … ]
It has been reported that even more North Korean soldiers are arriving in Russia to participate in the war against Ukraine. This time, they will be commanded not by Russian generals but by North Korean ones. Putin has given them the objective of liberating the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. However, the Ukrainians have also made their mark by deploying Abrams tanks in this area.
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North Korean Troops Open Fire On Russians And Kill ThemThe Military Show1,524,145 views | 21,842 | December 29 2024 18:00:27 (268 comments)[ Read more … ]
In the fall of 2024, the arrival of over 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia set off alarm bells in Ukraine and the West. These soldiers were meant to bolster Russia’s failing war effort, but what followed was a series of disastrous events, including friendly fire that left eight elite Russian Akhmat soldiers dead. From language barriers to lack of training, watch how this ill-fated alliance turned into Russia’s latest humiliation. Share your thoughts below!
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