There are reports of the presence of thousands of North Korean soldiers killed or injured While fighting in the Ukrainian War on the side of Russia.

Authorities in Ukraine, South Korea and the United States have reported deaths North Korean soldiers Near the border of Ukraine In the Russian city of Kursk.

Here’s what we know so far about the reported deaths and why the North Koreans could go to war in Ukraine:

Were North Korean soldiers sent to fight with Russian forces?

North Korea denied sending troops or weapons to help Russia.

However, in February this year, former South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik He told reporters Pyongyang sent Moscow about 6,700 containers carrying millions of ammunition, starting in September 2023, in exchange for raw materials for manufacturing weapons, in addition to food.

On October 9, the Ukrainian army Announce It struck a Russian arsenal, which included weapons sent to Russia by North Korea.

Then, on October 16 this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told parliament that North Korea had become an “actual participant” in the war between Ukraine and Russia. He added that Ukrainian intelligence found that North Korea was transporting not only weapons but also soldiers to Moscow.

The UK-based Conflict Armaments Research Foundation, which has observed weapons used in conflicts, Notify the UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council announced on December 18 that Pyongyang is capable of producing ballistic missiles and supplying them to Moscow within months.

How many North Koreans are believed to have died in Ukraine?

The numbers vary depending on where they come from.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted Monday that Ukrainian forces killed or wounded more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region.

I held a staff meeting.

We have comprehensively analyzed our work with Syria after the fall and flight of Assad.

Today the intelligence services – the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Defense Intelligence Service of Ukraine – presented their reports, as well as the Ministers…

— Volodymyr Zelensky / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 23, 2024

But Zelensky’s estimates are higher than those of South Korean military officials, who said Monday that at least 1,100 North Korean soldiers Has been killed or injured.

The National Spy Agency in Seoul reported on Thursday that about 100 people had been killed and 1,000 wounded since they entered the fight against Ukraine.

South Korean Member of Parliament Lee Sung-kwon briefed reporters on these numbers last week, according to the BBC. He said that the victims included high-ranking officials, and noted that the soldiers died because they were not familiar with the Russian terrain and drone warfare.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify any of these casualty figures.

Why is North Korea sending troops to fight for Russia?

The United States, Ukraine and South Korea claim that North Korean soldiers began arriving in Moscow in October this year, more than two and a half years after the start of the Ukrainian war in February 2022.

Ukraine war is First time Isolated North Korea’s military has intervened in a foreign conflict.

A commentary published by the Washington-based Carnegie Center for International Peace in November noted that there were likely to be some short-term benefits for Pyongyang, including receiving much-needed supplies from Russia, including food, oil and money.

The BBC also reported that intelligence in Seoul estimates that Russia pays North Korea $2,000 per soldier per month.

Edward Howell, lecturer in international relations at the University of Oxford, Al Jazeera said Russia, for its part, would likely be open to having North Korean soldiers join its war in Ukraine because “we know that Russia needs manpower.”

Moscow did not confirm or deny the presence of North Korean soldiers on the war front.

While Pyongyang initially rejected the claims of the United States, South Korea and Ukraine, a North Korean official has since stated that such a deployment would be legal.

How many fighters have been sent and are likely to leave?

In late October, The Pentagon confirmed North Korea sent about 10,000 soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war.

Zelensky said Ukraine believes more North Korean forces will join the Ukrainian war.

“There are risks that North Korea will send additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army,” he posted on his X account on Monday after receiving a report on the matter from his top military commander, Oleksandr Sirsky.

Have North Korea and Russia supported each other militarily in the past?

In June this year, Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defense agreement during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first state visit to North Korea in 24 years. That was it You are right In November.

While the full text of this agreement has not been published, it contains a clause calling on Russia and North Korea to provide military assistance if one of them is attacked.

This has alarmed the United States and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan. In June, the three countries issued a joint statement expressing “Extreme concern“On the agreement.

The United States, Ukraine and South Korea also claimed that North Korea supplied Russia with weapons, which Moscow and Pyongyang denied.