Situation picture Ukraine "North Korea does not want even one soldier to return home alive"
The unleashing of the ATACMS missiles has consequences for the Kremlin. It is pushing through its offensive in Kursk with a crowbar: Heavy losses do not impress Vladimir Putin - and they even please Kim Jong-un.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- ATACMS release: The Russian army must move depots and bases further into the hinterland to avoid being hit.
- In 2025, Kiev wants to produce 3000 cruise missiles itself, for the use of which no one needs to be asked for permission.
- The gray area of casualty figures: How they are calculated, where the uncertainties lie and what the true figures are.
- Deployment of North Koreans in Kursk: "No one is expected to come back."
- Ukrainian general on North Koreans: "The combat power of these units is quite questionable."
He does not want to go into detail, says Volodymyr Selensky. Ukraine can also attack from a distance: with the domestic Neptune, for example, but now also with ATACMS. "We will use them all," says the president on November 19.
The morning of the 1000th day of this war is also the day on which Kiev uses ATACMS against a target on Russian soil for the first time. Reuters learns from Pentagon sources that Russia was allegedly only able to destroy two of the eight missiles fired. Moscow itself claims to have intercepted a total of six ATACMS and 42 drones.
It is still unclear what damage the ATACMS caused during their attack on the ammunition depot in Bryansk. However, it is a fact that the Russian army now not only has to move ammunition depots deeper into the hinterland. Fuel depots are also within striking distance of the missile, which has a range of 300 kilometers, as are 14 Russian airports used by the military.
At the same time, Ukraine is ramping up production of the domestic R-360 Neptune, which is said to have a range of over 200 kilometers. 100 are said to have been produced this year, but next year Zelenskyi wants to have 3,000 cruise missiles produced on domestic soil, for the use of which he does not have to ask anyone for permission.
High losses - but how high exactly?
How many opponents the Ukrainian army has eliminated so far is questionable. According to the New York Times, Kiev and many Western countries are assuming 600,000 to 700,000 Russian casualties. The problem is that these figures include both casualties and wounded - and in the case of the wounded, no distinction is made between a hole in the head and a splinter in the leg.
As a result, a soldier can be injured twice before being killed - and thus appear three times in the casualty statistics. Resourceful journalists are therefore digging deeper: they adjust the figures using obituaries, social media posts and funerals, for example. According to the BBC, 78,329 Russians had died by November. Mediazona and Medusa add the number of open inheritance cases to this total.
They are an issue when a soldier goes missing. The state does not have to pay out any money to the surviving dependants of missing soldiers. This means that almost 150,000 Russians had died by the end of October. Estimates that add those who have been irretrievably wounded to this total come to losses of between 405,000 and 484,000 people.
"No one is expected to come back"
The consequences are evident in Kursk Oblast, where the Russian army is having to reinforce itself with men from North Korea in order to achieve its goal of recapturing the city before Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20. High casualties are not deterring Pyongyang in its efforts: "North Korea does not want even one soldier to return home alive," believes one defector. "No one is expected to come back."
The man with the pseudonym Chung tells "Daily NK" that the soldiers probably didn't even know they were being deployed to Russia. They could not disagree: "All North Korean soldiers who go abroad must testify their will to give their lives in battle." Obedience is everything, says Chung.
Why does Kim Jong-un not want to get his people back? "The leadership will think that returning soldiers are not helpful in preserving the regime. They might tell the truth about what they have experienced, which could spark negativity against the regime."
"The combat effectiveness of these units is quite questionable"
In this respect, Pyongyang's wish could come true, says the commander of the Ukrainian air assault troops. "We estimate that there are more than 10,000 [North Koreans in Kursk]," Ihor Skybiuk is quoted as saying. "The Ukrainian armed forces are eliminating more than 1,000 [enemy soldiers] every day. That means their contingent is enough for about ten days."
The brigadier general explains: "I think [the Russians] had to agree to this under difficult circumstances, probably make concessions, offer benefits, embarrass themselves publicly. The combat effectiveness of these units is quite questionable when you think of the circumstances in North Korea."
Moscow is unimpressed by the losses in Kursk and is reportedly deploying the 76th Airborne Division with around 7500 men to the region. They reinforce the Russian army in Kursk, which is estimated at 50,000 soldiers and is said to consist mainly of marines and airborne troops alongside North Koreans.
