Ukrainian, Russian and American military analysts are looking forward to the performance of North Korean soldiers, who the NYT says are now believed to have the advantage, unlike the Russians, of only “greater discipline and resolve.” Admittedly, North Korean soldiers are a huge puzzle, even for the Russians. Some believe that the Russians will send the North Koreans into battle “like cannon fodder” and that there is no real telling how they will behave.
A new battle of Kursk begins. About 50,000 joint soldiers of the Russian and North Korean armies have launched a major winter offensive in Russia’s Kursk region to retake areas held by Ukrainian forces since August, citing US and Ukrainian intelligence, The New York Times reports. ” (NYT). Of those 50,000, at least 10,000 are North Korean soldiers who were recently sent by Kim Jong-un to help Vladimir Putin, according to the intergovernmental agreement between the two countries. Winter has begun, the first snow and debris have begun to interfere with military operations in the area, and according to Russian regime media, Putin wants to regain control of the Kursk region by the end of this year and announce it to the Russian public, as “ gift” for the New Year.
THE ENIGMA OF NORTH KOREA
Ukrainian, Russian and American military analysts are looking forward to the performance of North Korean soldiers, who the NYT says are now believed to have the advantage, unlike the Russians, of only “greater discipline and resolve.” Admittedly, North Korean soldiers are a huge puzzle, even for the Russians. Some believe that the Russians will send the North Koreans into battle “like cannon fodder” and that there is no real telling how they will behave.
Thus, some claim that they are trained and indoctrinated that they must not retreat even at the cost of their lives and that they will fight desperately, while others believe that they can fall apart at the start of the attack, especially if it does not go well. But for pro-regime Russian portal gazeta.ru, military expert Rob Lee of the Institute for Foreign Policy Research in Philadelphia, who recently returned from Ukraine, states that “thousands of additional troops could make a difference in Kursk.”
PUTIN’S DEADLINE
The Russians now have a more comfortable situation after the arrival of the North Koreans, but even they did not understand the assumptions that the Ukrainians would withdraw from the Kursk region on their own, to send reinforcements to the Donbas due to Russian attacks. So now Putin has ordered an operation to get back the areas they lost. In Kiev, they postponed the mobilization deadline until February 2025, because, according to local media estimates, at least 160,000 soldiers would have to be assembled by then, who should be ready for spring, when the intensity of fighting are expected to increase.
120,000 REFUGEES
By the way, as the independent Russian portal “Meduza” writes, refugees from the city of Suzha and some other parts of the Kursk region, about 120,000 people were evacuated and left before the Ukrainian attack, although a smaller part remained on the territory of occupied. They protested in Kursk in front of the disgruntled “regional administration” because they do not know what will happen to them, and because they have not been provided with adequate accommodation, and the promised vouchers for lost property have not been issued, for which he also writes to Putin.
BEHIND THE SCENES
At the same time as the beginning of the great Russian offensive in Kursk, in Paris, writes “The Telegraph”, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged and once again asked the outgoing American President Joe Biden before the surrender of power, to authorize Kiev to use long-range missiles deep inside Russia.
“The Telegraph” notes that it would be very difficult for Donald Trump to reverse that decision if he wanted to. Still, some believe Biden will leave that hot potato to Trump, especially since many top Republicans, the chairmen of congressional committees, themselves support the proposal. We remind you that the decision was practically made, but Biden retreated after Putin’s new threats to escalate the conflict.
