The Ukrainian 8th Special Operations Regiment, stationed near Russia’s Kursk region, reported on Tuesday that it had killed 50 North Korean soldiers in combat. The regiment also released drone footage of the incident, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The video appears to show North Korean soldiers reacting to the Ukrainian military’s FPV (First-Person View) drones, either fleeing or hiding behind trees. Sergeant Mykhailo Makaruk of the 8th Special Operations Regiment explained, “Around 200 of them were approaching our base. They moved back and forth between the areas where the drones were bombing, shooting at the FPVs, and advancing toward our base like zombies. They were easy targets for us. They were really reckless. It was like fighting zombies.”
Earlier, both the Ukrainian and U.S. governments confirmed that North Korean soldiers had been deployed to the frontlines in Kursk, with casualties reported. Sergeant Makaruk further stated that the North Korean troops were moving alongside Russian forces, with some mid-level officers among them.
He described the tactics as “typical of Soviet infantry from the 1950s and 1960s.” Makaruk added, “They didn’t understand what FPVs were. They seemed to think that if they lay down on the ground or hid behind trees, we wouldn’t be able to see them. They didn’t realize that the FPVs were remotely controlled.”
FPV drones, capable of reaching speeds up to 150 km/h (93 mph), are known for their precision. When encountering a target within 100 meters, a collision can occur in less than a second.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, also commented on the situation through his Telegram channel. “The North Korean soldiers who were killed did not understand the seriousness of drones,” he said. “It seems that Russia did not properly communicate information about drones to the North Korean forces.”
Kovalenko also pointed out that Russian forces were hastily recovering the bodies of the North Korean soldiers who died on the frontlines, in stark contrast to how they handled the remains of their own soldiers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing the North Korean soldiers captured by drones.