According to the revelations of a Russian nurse, intercepted by Ukrainian special services (SBU), hospital rooms are reserved as a priority for soldiers from Pyongyang, while injured Russians are abandoned in more difficult conditions.
More than 200 injured North Korean soldiers were reportedly brought to a Russian hospital near Moscow within days, according to an intercepted conversation broadcast by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on its Telegram channel.
“Ukrainian defense forces inflict heavy losses on Russian and North Korean units in the Kursk region,” SBU said in its report, all cited by Kyiv Post.
“Damn, they all look the same…”
In the intercepted conversation, a nurse at a Moscow region hospital speaks with a man believed to be her husband, a Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
“They brought the Koreans to our hospital… Yesterday there was another train with a hundred people, and today another 120. That’s already 200,” she said. “And how many are still there (at the front)? Only God knows.”
The nurse describes how hospital wards are reserved specifically for DPRK militants, leaving injured Russian soldiers in poorer conditions. “Are these Koreans elite, or what? We free up some rooms for them. Are they so privileged or something? »
She adds that if North Korean fighters ask her for anesthetic injections, she plans to refuse. “I’ll tell them, ‘Go to hell! I don’t understand what you’re saying,'” the nurse says over the phone, adding that communication with North Korean troops is virtually impossible.
According to the nurse, the communication problems are due to the fact that the DPRK soldiers do not know Russian:
“Damn, they all look the same.” How are we supposed to tell them apart? You might as well write on their forehead with a marker,” she said to her interlocutor. “What a zoo!” Soon there will be no one left to talk to. They will just mumble something in their gibberish. It’s crazy! »
The nurse also mentions that hospital staff are not allowed to speak English with North Korean troops. “We are not allowed to speak to them in English. They are forbidden to speak English. Because they are North Korean, they are with us. The South Koreans are with America.”
The communication problems may be real, as the Russian side has not denied that there is one translator for every 30 Korean soldiers, which creates impossible situations. “The Chinese are here“reacted the Russian soldiers to the arrival of the North Koreans.
Human losses are significant
According to a senior American official cited by the New York Times, Ukrainian forces inflicted heavy losses on North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia, with “hundreds” of deaths and injuries. DPRK soldiers, who have no combat experience, were vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes on command centers and infantry positions.
Kyrylo Budanov, director of Ukraine’s Directorate of Defense Intelligence (HUR), said that last week, North Korean troops launched large-scale attacks in the Kursk region, where the army’s 94th Independent Brigade Korean army needed reinforcements after suffering considerable losses.
Drone footage from Ukraine’s 414th Independent Regiment showed more than two dozen North Korean casualties, while special operations forces also reported Korean casualties in a report on Telegram.
According to HUR, the number of North Korean troops deployed in Russia is currently around 12,000, with a contingent of 500 officers, including three generals from Pyongyang, Kyrylo Boudanov told The Economist (reportedly, the leadership of Pyongyang is likely preparing to send up to 100,000 troops, in anticipation of a long and protracted war).
Senior Sergeant Stanislav Buniatov, platoon commander of the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade “Aidar” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who participated in clashes with North Korean soldiers, said that the latter were disciplined, but also prone to morally collapse due to the heavy losses suffered.
The Ukrainian press has already published intercepted conversations that could breach the Kremlin’s operational security and reveal the mood and morale of Russian soldiers, their families and ordinary citizens.