Ukraine reveals new figures for North Korean troop losses in Russia's Kursk Oblast

North Korean troops took over 7,000 casualties while fighting alongside Russia to push back Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk Oblast in 2024-2025, the Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) claimed.

HUR's claimed figure surpasses the previous South Korean and British intelligence assessment, which estimated a total of about 6,000 casualties for North Korean troops, both killed and injured, in Kursk Oblast.

The claimed losses come from the months during the August 2024-March 2025 Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian troops held swathes of territories in a surprise high-stakes operation until the complicated logistics forced them to withdraw. The Kyiv Independent was unable to independently verify the claim. Though initially unprepared for modern drone warfare, the North Korean troops adapted quickly and showed discipline as they fought, Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Kursk Oblast told the Kyiv Independent then.

Pyongyang has not commented on how many casualties its troops have taken in Russia.

"The North Korean regime is trying to conceal the actual losses that its army units suffered in the war against the Ukrainian Defense Forces," HUR said in a statement to the Kyiv Independent in late June.

The latest casualty count comes as Russia and North Korea deepen their military cooperation, two years after the two authoritarian regimes signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, a pledge to provide aid to one another if either is attacked. Heavily isolated by Western nations over the war in Ukraine and by the sanctions imposed, the two nations that possess nuclear weapons have grown closer to assist each other, keeping the West alarmed.

Earlier in February, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing its country's intelligence, that about 11,000 North Korean troops are stationed in Russia's Kursk Oblast as of early 2026 to support Moscow's war in Ukraine.

The first reports of North Korean troops' deployment to Russia came in October 2024.

In the same late June statement, HUR also told the Kyiv Independent that Russia increased the amount of North Korean-manufactured ammunitions, weapons, and military equipment it receives from Pyongyang in early 2026 to bolster its war efforts against Ukraine. It primarily concerns the 122mm and 152mm artillery shells and ballistic missiles, according to HUR.

"Aid from North Korea allows Russia to continue its war against Ukraine, having become a steady source of supplies," HUR warned in its statement.

"This military partnership benefits both countries: Moscow makes up for its shortage of ammunition and manpower, while Pyongyang, in return, gains a technological boost for the development of its missile and nuclear capabilities."