The Kursk Cauldron: North Korea’s Trial by Drone in Ukraine’s War

The static crackle of intercepted radio chatter, the stark images of a battlefield in rural Russia – this is not the Korean peninsula. This is Kursk, and the videos and reports trickling out paint a grim picture of North Korean troops, fresh from Pyongyang and thrown into the meat grinder of Russia’s war on Ukraine. While the world’s gaze is often fixated on the advanced drone warfare of the Ukrainian and western allied militaries, this is a stark reminder of the human cost and desperation at play in the Russian Federation’s tactics. Russia’s increased need for boots on the ground to continue their aggression within Ukrainian territory is forcing its hand towards desperate and unusual partnerships; ones which risk North Korea’s gamble at being tested by Ukraine’s experienced warfare and technology. This selection of raw footage, media reports, and expert analysis, offers a disturbing glimpse into this underreported aspect of the conflict, focusing specifically on the use of Ukrainian drones to harass, demoralize and outright kill the North Koreans forces. What do these clashes, specifically involving drone ambushes, mean for the overall war, and the international relations at play? Let’s dive in.

Key Battleground Insights

• Drone Ambushes & Inexperienced Troops: Several videos show alleged North Korean soldiers bunched up, exhibiting poor tactical awareness, and failing to respond adequately to the threat of overhead drones, indicating a lack of training and battle experience in this domain of warfighting compared to Russian military forces with nearly 3 years on the frontline in Ukraine. This lack of situational awareness leaves them highly vulnerable to targeted drone strikes as captured by several videos analyzed here.

• Heavy Casualties: Reports and videos claim heavy North Korean casualties during several clashes. One clip mentions that North Korean 92nd and 94th special ops brigades sustained considerable losses near the village of Plekhovo after facing a combination of drones, mines and artillery fire; this included an estimated loss of 4% of the entire North Korean military force involved and this coming from a single battle. Forbes’ analysis suggests this could mean roughly 1 in 25 North Korean troops, potentially out of 12,000, were either killed or seriously wounded over a single weekend in this particular sector.

• Russia’s Numbers Game: The strategy appears to be the Russian Command exploiting raw numbers, not battle expertise, by relying on the quantity of North Korean troops despite a blatant disregard for troop losses. These tactics suggest desperation and an exploitation of expendable human assets rather than strategic warfare. Russian military officials may be attempting to conserve their own, veteran troops with years of combat experience, while pushing the North Koreans towards more frontline danger. This theory was supported in intercepted radio communication where Russian forces voiced frustration in the leadership regarding their new allies from North Korea in terms of training, command, supplies, ammunition, and tactical skills.

• Ground Taken, But At What Cost?: Despite taking some ground in Kursk as reported in a few of the media videos, the human cost for North Korea in terms of loss of life and injury to soldiers appear substantial for a marginal amount of real-world success. Some of these video examples show the North Koreans attacking on open ground, over minefields, under constant observation of Ukrainian drones, suggesting serious training issues from both Russia and North Korean military leadership; this raises concerns as these training gaps make these forces highly vulnerable to not only drones but a variety of other ambush tactics.

A Costly Collaboration

The integration of North Korean troops into the Russian war effort demonstrates the changing alliances and desperate strategies on both sides. The North Koreans’ obvious shortcomings when facing experienced Ukraine fighting tactics are revealing of the human consequences and in some cases utter incompetence on both Russian and North Korean leadership. These trends are disturbing and have large international geopolitical ramifications. It suggests a continuing escalation and willingness on both Russian and North Korean leadership to use and even sacrifice their own soldiers in order to gain the smallest victory within Ukraine. The use of drone technology as observed in multiple video examples highlight how modern warfare is won and lost on these rapidly moving modern technologies. And, with these facts, the Russian-North Korea axis must face these modern and deadly drone tactics.

Scroll Down For More

The grim realities depicted in these short videos may be hard to view and process. But each provides valuable intel regarding the evolving conflict and the geopolitical ramifications this has on all global actors. Scroll down and view each of these powerful videos – you are viewing history in motion.

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