Russian soldiers are hostile towards incoming North Korean troop, expressing concerns about the command structure, ammunition supply, and military equipment.
In an intercepted communications obtained by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence and released on Friday Russian servicemen are heard speaking disparagingly about the North Korean soldiers, even referring to them as “the f**king Chinese” at one point.
In the same extract, a serviceman describes another who has been tasked to “meet people.”
“And he’s like standing there with his eyes out, like… f**k,” the soldier says. “He came here and says what the f**k to do with them.”
The audio was intercepted from encrypted Russian transmission channels on the night of October 23, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.
The intercepted communications follow a Thursday announcement from Ukraine’s military intelligence service, stating that a group of North Korean soldiers, who had received training in Russia’s far east, have been spotted in the Kursk region, an area bordering Ukraine that has experienced ongoing military operations since Ukraine launched an incursion in August.
The intercepts also disclose plans to assign one interpreter and three senior officers for every 30 North Korean soldiers, a decision that Russian soldiers are heard criticizing in the audio.
“The only thing I don’t understand is that there [should be] three senior officers for 30 people. Where do we get them? We’ll have to pull them out,” one Russian serviceman remarks.
“I’m f***ing telling you, there are 77 battalion commanders coming in tomorrow, there are commanders, deputy commanders and so on,” a serviceman says in another extract.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a statement on Friday, confirmed receiving a report on the deployment of North Korean military personnel from Ukraine’s commander-in-chief.
He criticized the BRICS summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan and said , “According to intelligence, on October 27-28, Russia will deploy its first North Korean troops in combat zones. This is a clear step in Russia’s escalation that matters, unlike all the disinformation circulating in Kazan these days.”
North Korea, while not explicitly confirming the presence of its troops in Russia, stated on Friday that any deployment to aid the war in Ukraine would adhere to international law. Zelensky urged for tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang to comply with the UN Charter and to punish escalation, emphasizing that the actual involvement of North Korea in combat should not be met with a blind eye and confused comments.
