The Secretary General of NATO, Marc Rutteassured this Monday during a press conference that At least 10,000 North Korean troops were already on Russian territoryready to confront Ukrainian troops in Kursk. Pentagon sources say there could be 30,000, while the Germany-based Friedrich Neimann Foundation estimates in its latest study that North Korea had sent to Russia weapons worth 5.5 billion since the start of the conflict.
Rutte described the presence of Kim Jong-Un’s men on the front as “a substantial escalation“, even if he did not want to give details on the response that NATO would give, beyond asking its members to continue to help Ukraine in every way possible. Rutte’s speech clashes with that of the Republican candidate Donald Trump and with that of his eventual vice-president JD Vance, who refused to call Putin an “enemy” in an interview, opting for the term “competitor”.
It is difficult to know exactly what the North Koreans will bring to the war in Ukraine. From South Korea, it is emphasized that Kim Jong-Un uses them as simple “cannon fodder”. We also talk about the lack of preparation of the troops and the little experience of the type of terrain they will encounter, North Korea being an eminently mountainous country and its training locations have little to do with the vast expanses of plains, often snow-covered, from Russia and America. Ukraine.
The fact that Putin decided to send this first shipment directly to Kursk, the Russian territory still partly occupied by Ukraine, is a failure and a total lack of concern for its citizens. If the Kremlin had taken the region’s inhabitants into account, it would have sent its best men from the start to recover the hundreds of lost square kilometers. But he has always preferred to send reservists, young graduates and, now, foreigners who don’t even know what they’re getting into.
Selidove’s withdrawal
But this deployment of foreign troops shows the inability to drive out the Ukrainians by their own means. It has been two and a half months of occupation and the date of October 1 set by Putin as an ultimatum to his general staff is a long way off. The fact that Russia must turn to a country like North Korea for resolve internal problems This is a huge sign of weakness and it’s unclear what exactly he’s offering in exchange for this help.
Regarding the Donbassslow but steady progress continues, difficult to assess. The bad news for Ukraine the thing is there is no change in trend in sight: Oleksandr Syrskyi’s men have been on the defensive for more than a year and are trying to stop the Russian advance around Donetsk. This makes rotations too long, morale drops and retreats are constant to avoid enemy pocket maneuvers.
The last of these withdrawals took place at Selidovetown southeast of Pokrovskthe major communications center between this part of Donbass and the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk core which serves as the command center of the Ukrainian army in the region. With the capture of Selidove, Russia can choose to launch a safer rearguard attack on Pokrovsk or attempt a blockade around the town of Kurajove, taking advantage of the advances taking place south from Vuhledar.
The main obstacle that Russia could encounter in this maneuver is the presence of the Kurakhivs’ke dam, but if it manages to bypass it from the west, near Andriivka, it will have some chance of success. The current question is whether Gerasimov and Putin will choose the quicker route or whether they will continue to decimate Ukrainian troops and occupy territory, even at the cost of leaving behind thousands of men they never left behind. really took life into consideration.
Negative dynamics in recent months
Whatever the final decision, the truth is that Ukraine needs some kind of coup or the loss of Donbass will only be a matter of time. On the eve of the aforementioned US elections, this coup looks complicated. In recent weeks they have built defense lines around northern Zaporizhzhia and west of Donetsk, but it is unclear whether they will serve to stop the Russians there or simply prolong a war that has already lasted two years and eight months, practically, to get an idea, as has lasted the Spanish Civil War. .
It is time for Ukrainian military leaders to decide whether they should continue to stand in Donbass or whether they should reserve part of their units and arsenal for the possible defense of neighboring oblasts, such as Zaporizhzhia or Dnipro. It’s a difficult decision and one only they can make, but If Ukraine loses American support, it could only opt for a bad peace deal.ceding at least all the territory already occupied by the Russians, or risking a rupture of the front which pushes the enemy troops even further.
It is true that this rupture has been announced for months and never happens, except perhaps in the Ocheretyne salient, but the constant wear and tear and the trend do not invite optimism. Ukraine rises which boasted of being the second best army in the world, losing very little territory and causing colossal losses to its enemy. However, the last five months leading up to the summer brought a significant acceleration in the speed of the Russian advance, with no signs of slowing. Russia’s flaws are obvious, as demonstrated Kurskshould not avoid certain concerns for the future.
