Ukraine Reports Absence of North Korean Troops in Kursk

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's special operations forces have not seen North Korean troops on the battlefield in Russia's Kursk region for around three weeks, suggesting they have been forced to withdraw after taking heavy losses, a military spokesperson said on Friday.

Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in Kursk to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.

"The special operations forces speak exclusively for the areas where our units are deployed, in this regard, we inform you that the presence of North Korean troops has not been noted for approximately three weeks," said Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, the forces' spokesperson.

"Presumably, having suffered heavy losses, they were forced to withdraw," he said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military spokesperson for the whole Kursk front told Reuters he could not officially comment on the situation. It was unclear what sectors of the front in Kursk region the special operations forces are deployed along.

Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk in August, trying to divert Moscow's forces to defend on a new front, boost morale and gain a bargaining chip.

Russia has since pushed Ukrainian troops back, but so far proven unable to drive them all the way back to the border.

North Korean regular troops entered the war on Russia's side in October, according to Kyiv and its Western allies, which said they had been sent to Kursk region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Jan. 11 that two North Korean soldiers had been captured alive on the battlefield by Ukrainian special forces working alongside paratroopers.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Yuliia Dysa; editing by Angus MacSwan)