We are in the most extraordinary moment where N.Korean troops have, in effect, been sold to Russia.
Rather than operate them as a homogeneous unit under N.Korean commanders working under Russian overall command, they’re being deployed into units such as the 155th Naval Infantry.
That unit, which has been at the forefront of battles from Robotyne to Vuhledar and now Kursk, has by my last count, been 90%+ reconstituted at least four if not not five times.
The units hails from Vladivostok and is mostly manned by East Asian men. Russia, having decided to buy the Koreans from Kim in the North, felt it would be best to hide them inside units with similar looking peoples so they wouldn’t stand out.
Except they have no linguistic or cultural ties and it would be no different to mixing white Poles with white Danes. They might look similar but if nobody spoke the others language or ate the others food and found themselves dumped in military unit they’d be of little use.
The North Koreans have apparently been complaining vociferously about the food the Russians give them – or the lack of it or both.
This has been such a thing that in the strange world of the Russo-Korean alliance, Korean commanders at different sites where they’re being trained and organised for the front, have their own un-encrypted radios. And they talk. A lot. Partly I’m told a mix of fascination at where they are, arrogance because they think the Russians are primitive and lazy, and separation anxiety.
The Ukrainians have been avidly listening to these chats and using the signals intelligence to target the sites the Koreans are training at, their artillery assembling at, and their commanders located at.
The result has been devastating HIMARS strikes that have proved so effective the Russians, who were relying on them to attack the western part of Kursk at a key village and road junction the Ukrainians are holding successfully, have been unable to strike.
There’s another aspect to this that should be considered. At a strategic level, the Russians are having to use Korean troops they swapped for money and technology to take back land inside of Russia itself. Foreign troops bought for the purpose of recapturing Russian territory inside Russia because they don’t have the resources to do it themselves.
What does that tell us? Desperate times need desperate measures. Putin’s army is suffering a chronic problem of manpower and resource shortages because they have pushed themselves to near breaking point to keep up these endless attacks.
The price Ukraine is extracting from Russia for every advance and every meter of land is draining the Russians of their life blood as they throw thousands of men to their deaths.
The Koreans are paid for. When their time comes – if they get to the front before HIMARS gets them, they’ll last no longer. At least they’ll not have to pay compensation for their deaths.
Well over 750,000 now and counting.
How long before Russians in the front realise en masse, they can if they do it in big enough numbers, just walk away? Some already figured it out at Kharakove but not enough to trigger a major crisis. Events in Syria, when they eventually find out about it, may just speed them along.
You don’t have to die for Putin. Perhaps the onset of winter will drive more of them to think about their choices.
The Analyst
Slava Ukraine🇺🇦!
MilitaryAnalyst.bsky.social
The Military Analyst 
Putin has been outplayed now. When Syrskyi announced that a new counteroffensive was coming from where Russia least expects it, he was letting putin know in advance that Ukraine was involved in the Syrian Rebel takeover and expulsion of the ruZZian forces.
It comes on top of the Kursk debacle. Occupying the Kursk border region may have been of limited military value, but it had a high probability of doing deep political damage to putin – as long as it held until winter. It has exceeded its potential, and makes it difficult for ordinary Russians to ignore the war that they have had such low interest in. Kursk connects inflation to the war. It connects the infrastructure failures to the war. They hear the drones, the see the fires. They know it isn’t “debris” causing them. They see the fuel price rises.
And now, on top of that, Syria has fallen, and putin has a look that is entirely at odds with “Peter the Great” who conquered foreign lands. He looks more and more like “Putin Khuylo” the Tsar who failed and lost it all. The ruSSian military has thrown everything it has at Ukraine, and Ukraine has withstood the worst of it.
Ukraine can’t afford to be smug at all, because they have suffered greatly, but they neither invited putin’s aggression, nor deserved it. However, Syrskyi was right to obliquely call out the Syrian rout in advance. It ties Ukraine to the collapse of the ruSSian geopolitical house of cards.
putin’s days are numbered now. The Battle of the Bulge has been fought, figuratively speaking. There is still an awful time to endure for Ukraine, but the end might just be in sight. The orange man will not want to hitch his wagon to putin’s horse at this point.
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Very interesting read. Love these analyses. Thank you.
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Thank you for taking the time.
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Thank you.
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Great in-sight thanks.May this sink in and assist UAF to do their strategy which should lead to the collapse of Putin’s empire.Assad may become a symbol of cowardice when confronted with real pressure.
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It’s a prime symbol of how badly things are going for Russia. It’s not good for Ukraine but look at it from inside Russia and it’s not good.
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Does anyone know what caliber of soldiers North Korea sent to Russia?
If Russia is just going to use then as meat wave barbarians, North Korea can just empty thier prisons too to the front lines. That is a tactic Russia fully understands how to manage. North Korea surely has plenty of convicted people.
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