Ukraine's Kursk Battle Faces Defeat,White House 'support approval' Korean media manipulation

Ukraine's Kursk Battle Faces Defeat, White House 'support approval' Korean media manipulation

 

As Ukraine faces defeat in the Kursk region battle that Russia seized by surprise, Ukrainian frontline combatants have testified about the North Korean military, saying the bodies of the soldiers killed are impossible to recover.

The White House's North Korean military briefing on the 27th was actually announced by Communications Advisor Kirby as a supplementary explanation necessary for the 'budget approval' that "President Joe Biden will approve an additional security assistance package for Ukraine in the coming days," and that "this includes air defense systems that will help counter Russian attacks, such as human wave tactics."
Earlier, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on the 23rd in its 'Recent North Korean Military Trends' report that there were approximately 1,100 casualties among the North Korean troops dispatched to Russia, and just before that, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced that the number of North Korean casualties had exceeded 3,000, and in the White House's 'support budget approval' on the 27th, the 'human wave tactics' and 'release of letters from North Korean prisoners of war' were led by the Ukrainian government, and the Korean media packaged and manipulated this propaganda.
The AP reported on the 28th that Ukrainian soldiers said, "President Zelensky said 3,000 North Korean soldiers were killed and wounded, but they (the North Koreans' alleged military) appear to be learning from their mistakes by becoming more adept at camouflaging near the forested front line."
The AP continued, "One clash occurred last week near the Vorontsovo area, a forested area between the settlements of Kremenne and Vorontsovo." "Until last week, the area was under Ukrainian control, but this week, parts of it were cleared by Russian forces, and Ukrainian forces fear they could reach a vital supply route." The AP said some soldiers watching the losses along the front lines in the region known as the eastern Donbas, where Russia is encircling a vital supply chokepoint, are becoming more vocal about whether Kursk was worth it.
“All the troops can think about right now is that Donbas was simply sold,” a Ukrainian platoon commander on the front told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “At what price?”
Five months after the shock offensive against Russia, Ukrainian troops are bleeding and demoralized, raising questions about the value of the fight as the risk of defeat at Kursk grows, the AP reported on Tuesday.
Seven Ukrainian commanders and soldiers, speaking on condition of anonymity about the sensitive operation, told the AP that the fighting was so intense that some Ukrainian commanders were unable to evacuate their dead, that delays in communication and poorly timed tactics were costing lives and that their troops had little way to fight back. “We hit a hornet’s nest, as they say,” Stepan Lutsiv, a major with the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade, told the AP of the Kursk attack.
Three years ago, Russia seized a fifth of Ukraine in a full-scale invasion of Kursk, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted that seizing Kursk would help persuade Moscow to negotiate an end to the war, turning the city into a battlefield of death.
Five Ukrainian and Western officials in Kiev, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues freely, told the AP that they feared the gamble on Kursk would weaken an entire 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front and that Ukraine was losing valuable ground in the east. By early November, Russian forces were rapidly regaining ground, and Ukrainian soldiers who had once been in awe of what they had achieved were now reeling from their losses, with one company commander telling the AP that “half of our men were killed or wounded.”
Shocked by their success, which had caught the Russians by surprise, Ukrainian troops were ordered to advance beyond their original mission and into the town of Korenevo, 25 kilometers (16 miles) into Russia, where they were now one of the first to strike back.
Ukrainian frontline commanders told the AP that as the Russians doubled in numbers, they had no choice but to retreat.
“Ukrainian soldiers were not prepared for the Russian aggression at Kursk and could not fight back or withdraw,” an AP war correspondent told the AP in the Ukrainian capital, Cape Bal. “We have no other choice. The reason we are fighting here is because if we withdraw back to the border, they will not stop. They will continue to advance,” the unnamed drone unit commander told the AP.
“Some of the orders that my subordinates receive do not reflect reality due to communication delays,” another commander said. “It is especially difficult when we lose territory to the Russians.”
“They do not understand where our side is, where the enemy is, what we can and cannot control,” he said of the Ukrainian command. “They do not understand the operational situation, so we act at our own discretion.”
“My requests to change the defensive positions of my unit were repeatedly rejected by the higher-ups because they knew that my subordinates could not hold the line,” one platoon leader told the AP. He said, “Those who hold out until the end end up MIA,” and “I know of at least 20 Ukrainian soldiers whose bodies were dumped over the past four months because the fighting was so intense that they could not be evacuated without further casualties.”
In a briefing on the 27th, White House National Security Adviser John Kirby said, “It is estimated that 1,000 North Korean casualties occurred during the past week of fighting with the Ukrainian military,” and “The North Korean military is suffering many casualties by using ‘human sea tactics’ in which they engage in large-scale infantry operations without boarding combat vehicles.”
He continued, “There are reports that North Korean soldiers are taking their own lives rather than surrendering to the Ukrainian military, fearing that their families in North Korea will be retaliated against.”
Citing anonymous U.S. officials, Bloomberg reported on the 29th that “about half of the Kursk region, which the Ukrainian military seized by surprise, was lost to a Russian counterattack, and there is a possibility that the entire Kursk region will be surrendered within a few months.” “By next spring, Ukrainian forces could be forced to either withdraw or be surrounded,” U.S. officials told Bloomberg.

A Ukrainian company commander gathered his men after receiving orders to advance on Kursk and told them, “We’re making history,” but in an AP interview that day, he said, “It was crazy. I didn’t understand why.” 

The Chosun Ilbo reported on the 29th that <John Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Advisor, said in an online briefing on the 27th that the North Korean military is “implementing ‘human wave tactics’ that are not very effective.” He said that “Russian and North Korean military leaders treat (North Korean) soldiers as expendable items,” and that “the North Korean military appears to be brainwashed and is pushing forward despite knowing that the attack is reckless.”
The Chosun Ilbo reported on Kirby’s announcement that “there is information,” stating that <the United States estimated that over 1,000 North Korean casualties occurred in the past week alone as the reckless large-scale attack began in earnest> as a ‘US estimate.’

On the 30th, President Biden announced $2.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, and the Treasury Department announced an additional $3.4 billion in budget support.
The New York Times Pentagon correspondent said, “The Biden administration’s $1.22 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative has essentially used up all the money left in the program,” and “The White House said last week that more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded while fighting Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia, and some chose to commit suicide instead of surrendering,” revealing a direct connection between the budget support and the announcement of North Korean casualties.

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