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According to the Institute for the Study of War, a US non-profit, Russia had 11,000 troops in Kursk when Ukraine began its shock incursion in early August. However, a report in the New York Times suggests Moscow has achieved its troop build-up in Kursk without any need to pull its soldiers out of Ukraine.
They must be feeling the crunch though - otherwise why bother with North Korean troops?
Why bother recruiting a spec ops group from a military that no country has really ever trained against whose tactics are practically unknown, whose been specifically trained to survive and resist coups and invasions without resources or supply lines?
The same reason Ukraine is using drones, duct tape, and grenades.
For starters, we don’t know how NK troops are trained but we can make some good guesses based on the terrain they would fight SK on and what weapons they are known to have. NK troops in Ukraine are going to be fighting in a completely different environment. (Oh. Their actual combat experience is basically nil.)
Ukraine has perfected drone warfare over the last few years. If they are spending between $200-$1000 per drone, there is absolutely no reason to use custom machined parts that might cost thousands. If an old RPG , a bare bones drone and a quarter roll of duct tape can take out a multi-million dollar bit of hardware, I would classify that as a bit of brilliance.
Sure. It was partly started because of cost and manpower constraints, but it’s so much more than hack hardware these days.
This is false, https://www.reuters.com/world/us-commandos-train-unexpected-north-koreas-shadow-2024-03-15/
https://www.nknews.org/2024/01/south-korean-military-rings-in-new-year-with-drills-against-north-korea/
Also false, https://www.npr.org/2023/06/09/1180694943/north-korea-defector-spy-kim-jong-un-us-covid-nuclear-succession
https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/unpacking-claims-of-secret-north-korean-intelligence-operations/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/world/asia/north-korea-defector-political-execution.html
No evidence yet that they’ve been trained for this. More that these troops have been trained for infiltration (but not as applicable to Ukraine where they’d stick out like a sore thumb) and assassination (which applies to specific targets, not a general all-for-all shoot-out) as per https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-do-north-korean-troop-deployments-to-russia-mean-for-geopolitics/
From what I’ve seen on this sub, Ukraine has some high quality military grade drones and grenades, among other things. And duct tape reminds me of MacGuyver - who takes on MacGuyver and wins?
All in all, Ukraine is much better off than North Korea,
https://news.sky.com/story/north-korea-defector-tells-of-escape-and-reveals-what-life-is-really-like-in-secretive-state-12851920
And this disparity will be reflected in a display of military might against North Korean troops.