North Korean troops could suffer even greater losses in Ukraine than Russia, Estonian intelligence says

North Korean troops are likely to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine, possibly exceeding Russia's losses, Estonian Colonel Ants Kiviselg, head of the Estonian Armed Forces' Intelligence Center, told Estonian public broadcaster ERR on November 1.

The first North Korean soldiers were deployed to Russia's Kursk Oblast at the end of October, the Military Intelligence Service of Ukraine (HUR) previously reported. According to HUR, North Korea has sent almost 12,000 soldiers to Russia, including 500 officers and three generals.

North Korean soldiers are typically trained to fight in mountainous terrain, meaning they are unfamiliar with Ukrainian territory, its climate and geography, Kiviselg said.

“Their training does not include combat operations in such conditions, and the training they receive in the Russian Federation is certainly not of a very high level,” Kiviselg said.

“Therefore, we can expect North Korean units in Ukraine to suffer heavy losses, probably even more than the armed forces of the Russian Federation have suffered so far.”

He said North Korean troops arrived in Kursk Oblast in “early October” after completing two to four weeks of training. North Korean soldiers were then transferred to the “Ukrainian front,” Kiviselg added.

“The arrival of North Korean soldiers on the Ukrainian front will likely take place in stages,” Kiviselg said.

“If this additional deployment of (North Korean) units to Russia, their training and then their arrival on the Ukrainian front continues in the long term, it could certainly bring some changes on the front.”

According to US intelligence, about 8,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia's Kursk Oblast to take part in the war against Ukraine.

According to the Financial Times, Ukrainian intelligence officials are skeptical about the combat effectiveness of North Korean troops, citing communication problems with their Russian counterparts as the biggest hurdle Moscow and Pyongyang must overcome.

North Korea's entry into the war comes as Russia's long and hard campaign in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast has gained dramatic momentum in recent days. Analysts say Russian forces are advancing at a pace not seen since the early months of the war.