North Korea appears to be getting more deeply involved in the Ukraine war, going beyond supplying Russia with munitions. Its military engineers “have been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles” it provided to Russia, The Guardian reported, citing senior officials in Kyiv and Seoul.
Dozens of North Koreans are behind Russian lines, “in teams that support launcher systems for KN-23 [short-range ballistic] missiles,” a source in Ukraine told the publication. As we reported earlier this year, North Korea began supplying Russia with those missiles, also known as Hwasong-11s, but about half were defective, according to an analysis from Ukrainian state prosecutors.
South Korea’s Defense Minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told members of parliament in Seoul this week that it was “highly likely” that North Korean officers had been deployed to fight alongside Russians, and as we previously reported, several had died last week in an attack on a Russian base in the Donetsk region. He did not give further details.
The head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, concurred. In a post on Telegram, he said that some North Koreans had been killed in Ukraine. His organization is part of the National Security and Defense Council.
All this comes in the wake of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin where the two men bolstered their deepening ties with a secret arms deal. It was reported that, among other things, it called for Pyongyang to send construction and engineering forces to Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine for rebuilding work. There was no indication of how many personnel would be involved or the exact nature of their work.
The increasing evidence of North Korean troops in Ukraine marks a big escalation. Foreigners have fought as mercenaries for Russia, “but if North Koreans are on the ground it would mark the first time a foreign government has sent troops in uniform to support Moscow’s war,” the Guardian noted
Aside from helping Russia, North Korea benefits from this relationship by testing its weaponry and giving its troops live combat experience.
“For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it’s crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, the Guardian reported. “This might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers – to provide them with diverse experiences and wartime training.”
In addition to troops, Pyongyang has given Moscow about three million artillery shells a year, about half of what Russian forces are using in Ukraine, according to Western intelligence, The Times of London reported.
“Although many of the shells are believed to be faulty, the sheer quantity has allowed Russia to make steady gains, most recently capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar.
Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), warned in September that shipments of North Korean shells were tilting the war in Russia’s favor.
“Our biggest problem from all these allies of Russia is from North Korea. Because with the volume of military products that they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting,” he said.
In addition to killing the North Korean officers, Ukraine has also attacked Russian facilities storing North Korean arms.
On Wednesday the Ukrainian military said it destroyed North Korean ammunition in a strike on a depot in the town of Karachev, in Russia’s Bryansk region, 60 miles from the Ukrainian border, Kovalenko said on Telegram. The warehouse belonged to the 67th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Just how deeply North Korea continues to wade into the war in Ukraine remains to be seen. However it appears to be clearly escalating its role.
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On the battlefield, Ukraine is “mounting a strong defense” against Russia, with Russia’s Kursk region and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine seeing the heaviest fighting, a senior U.S. military official told reporters, including from The War Zone, on Wednesday.
“Up in Kursk, there have been some limited counterattacks by the Russians, but really there are no meaningful gains or exchanges of territory in the last several weeks, and then down in Donetsk, while the Russians did make some advances earlier in the summer, those advances have slowed compared to that time period.”
Since February 2022, Ukraine “has inflicted more than 600,000 casualties on Russian forces,” a senior U.S. defense official said at the same press briefing. “In September of this year, Russia, Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed and wounded in action than in any other month of the war.”
The bulk of the Russian casualties last month came during attacks on Pokrovsk and Vuhledar in Donetsk, the senior military official said, adding that Ukraine is taking a “defense in depth” approach, trading territory for time with an eye toward a new offensive next year.
“My assessment is that the Ukrainians will be able to maintain their position and Kursk for some amount of time here into the future, I think several months and potentially beyond,” tne senior military official posited.
There was little territory exchanged over the past few days according to the latest assessment from the Insitute for the Study of War (ISW).
- Kursk: Ukrainian and Russian forces “continued assaults in Glushkovsky Raion west of the main Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast on October 7, 8, and 9 but did not make any confirmed advances,” ISW reported.
- Kharkiv: Russian forces recently advanced within Vovchansk amid continued offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast on October 7, 8, and 9. “Geolocated footage published on October 7 showing a Russian soldier raising a Russian flag in a building at the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant indicates that Russian forces likely recaptured the plant.”
- Luhansk: Russian forces recently advanced northwest of Kreminna amid continued offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on October 8 and 9.
- Donetsk: Russian forces recently advanced near Siversk, southern Toretsk, southwest of Donetsk City and southeast of Pokrosk amid continued Russian offensive operations. Russian forces continued offensive operations near Chasiv Yar on October 7, 8, and 9, but there were no confirmed changes to the frontline in this area. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces recently advanced during a counterattack east of Pokrovsk.
- Zaporizhzhia: Russian forces “recently marginally advanced south of Stepnohirsk amid continued assaults in western Zaporizhia Oblast on October 7, 8, and 9,” ISW reported. “Geolocated footage published on October 8 indicates that Russian forces recently marginally advanced in southwestern Kamyanske (south of Stepnohirsk).”
- Kherson: Russian forces continued assaults in the Kherson direction on October 7, 8, and 9, but there were no confirmed changes to the frontline in this direction.
Bad planning remains a huge problem for Ukrainian troops, a commander of the 28th Mechanized Brigade’s Kurt and Company unit complained.
“The biggest mistakes happen during rotations or taking new positions. Some commanders don’t plan properly, and bringing a unit to a new position is a major operation,” the commander told the RBC-Ukraine news outlet. “My unit is small, but I always personally scout a new position first. I take one soldier from the group that will move there, and we plan everything carefully.”
Ukrainian defense forces attacked a Shahed drone storage facility in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said on Facebook.
The attack was carried out by a “strike group of forces and means of the Military-Maritime Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in interaction with units of the Security Service of Ukraine,” the General Staff stated.
“According to available information, about 400 strike drones were stored there,” the statement read. “According to the results of objective control, an accurate hit on the target was recorded. A secondary detonation was observed on the territory of the object.”
The destruction of this storage base “will significantly reduce the opportunity of Russian occupiers to terrorize civilian residents of Ukrainian cities and villages,’ the General Staff added.
The War Zone cannot independently verify this claim.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pitching his so-called victory plan to Western allies this week.
Zelensky arrived at 10 Downing Street in London on Thursday to meet with officials from Britain and NATO, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. He then traveled to Paris on Thursday to meet with President Emmanuel Macron.
The full details of Zelensky’s “victory plan” have not been made public yet, but he said after his meeting in the U.K. that the plan “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia, Newsweek noted.
U.K. officials such as Defense Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Chief Admiral Tony Radakin attended the meeting at Downing Street. Starmer described the session as an opportunity to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail.”
A day earlier, Zelensky said the battlefield situation calls for decisive action to end Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine “no later than in 2025,” the Kyiv Independent reported.
“In October, November and December we have a real chance to move things toward peace and lasting stability. The situation on the battlefield creates an opportunity to make this choice — the choice for decisive action to end the war no later than in 2025,” Zelensky said.
In an exit interview with Politico, outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg offered up his major regret – that the West didn’t more forcefully intervene on Ukraine’s behalf after Russia first started biting into its territory in 2014.
“If we had delivered a fraction of the weapons we have delivered after 2022, we may have actually prevented the war,” he said.
An airbase in Russia housing Su-34 and Su-27 aircraft was hit by drones, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said on Thursday.
“Tonight, fire damage was inflicted on the Khanskaya in the Republic of Adygea of the Russian Federation,” the General Staff claimed on Telegram. “In particular, an ammunition warehouse located on the territory of a military facility was hit. In the area of the target, the work of enemy anti-aircraft was noted, ignition was recorded. “
There was no immediate indication of whether any aircraft were destroyed or damaged, the General Staff noted.
The airfield is located near the village of Khanskaya, close to the region’s capital city of Maykop and roughly 430 kilometers (270 miles) from the front line, the Kyiv Independent reported. The Khanskaya airfield is home to Russia’s 272nd Training Aviation Regiment.
The attack was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine GUR) and the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to the General Staff.
GUR released video claiming to be of the attack, showing Beaver drones being launched and an attack, with a large plume of black smoke in the aftermath.
Around 1,300 people were reportedly evacuated from the town.
The Russian Baltic Fleet minesweeper Aleksandr Obukhov based in the Kaliningrad enclave was disabled by a sabotage attack, GUR claimed on Telegram.
“The ship, which was based in the city of Baltiysk and was supposed to go on combat duty, suffered severe damage,” the spy agency stated. ”Due to the mysterious appearance of a hole in the gas pipe, water got into the engine and the Obukhov choked. Now the Russian minesweeper is undergoing major repairs, and this may turn out to be a serious problem – the damaged M-503 engine is a rare thing. Repair of a key installation on a ship is technically difficult and expensive.”
The State Border Service of Ukraine has taken possession of the cargo vessel Usko MFU, according to MarintimeExecutive.com.
A Ukrainian court ‘has authorized the state seizure” of the ship “that was detained on charges of repeatedly entering occupied Crimea to carry out commercial activities,” the publication reported. “Ownership of the vessel was transferred to Ukraine while two of the vessel’s officers have also been charged with ‘damaging state interests” by engaging in commercial activities in the occupied areas.'”
When they aren’t destroying Shaheds, Ukrainian forces are finding ways to repurpose the parts of those that have been recovered.
The Russians too are recycling parts of their drones, reusing flechettes for drone-dropped munitions. They remove projectiles from older munitions, stuff them into a PVC pipe, and add some explosives and an impact detonator. That’s so even if the weapon is jammed, it blows up upon impact.
A Russian ban on the Discord messaging system has some of the country’s mibloggers up in arms because they say it is having a large negative effect on the ability of troops to operate in the field.
Widely used mostly by gamers, Discord has become increasingly important for the military, particularly drone operators.
The ban, announced by the internet regulator Roskomnadzor on Tuesday, “highlights a glaring technology lapse within the Russian military,” The Washington Post reported “More than 2½ years into the war, it has failed to implement a secure, dependable Russian-made communications system, instead relying on privately owned platforms such as Discord and Telegram.”
The ban has also renewed a wider debate about how Russia’s bureaucratic machine keeps frustrating the military effort.
“A replacement should have been created and commanders should have been alerted to the plans so that the work at the front would simply not be broken in an instant,” one blogger wrote. “It’s called seeing a little further than your nose.”
You can see the value of Discord for Russian drone operators in the video below.
MiG-31K Foxhound interceptors have returned to Belarus for the first time in 18 months, the Belaruski Hajun monitoring group reported on Telegram.
“According to our information, the Russian Aerospace Forces MiG-31K fighter is currently approaching the Machulishchi airfield for landing,” the group reported.
The Foxhounds carry Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, though it is uncleared if the jet that landed in Belarus was so armed.
The last time Foxhounds were in Belarus was April 6, 2023, the group stated.
Elements of a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system were reportedly struck in a Russian missile attack. The official Russian TASS news agency claims an MSQ-104 fire control system and AN/MPQ-65 radar weere struck in the attack. The War Zone could not independently verify that claim.
On a more positive air defense note for Ukraine, it received two IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems from Berlin last week, German Major General Christian Freuding said in an interview with the German RND news outlet.
Germany “ordered an additional 17 IRIS-T air defense systems for Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sept. 4, on top of the seven other systems that have already been delivered,” according to the Kyiv Post.
Ukraine will receive two more by the end of the year, Freuding said.
Freuding also said that Russia’s artillery superiority has decreased from about 8 to 1 in the spring to about 3 to 1 now.
Russian troops have openly admitted using a banned chemical weapon, according to the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Chloropicrin (PS) is used in agriculture as a soil fumigant also been used as a chemical warfare agent (military designation, PS) and a riot control agent, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“It was used in large quantities during World War I and was stockpiled during World War II. However, it is no longer authorized for military use, the CDC explained. “Chloropicrin (PS) is an irritant with characteristics of a tear gas. Chloropicrin (PS) has an intensely irritating odor. Inhalation of 1 ppm causes eye irritation and can warn of exposure.”
Three days after being attacked by Ukrainian drones, a marine oil depot in the occupied Crimean city of Feodosia is still burning, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel and Mariupol Mayor’s advisor Petro Andriushchenko reported on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said on Telegram that the drone attack hit “the largest in Crimea in terms of transshipment of petroleum products, which were used, in particular, to meet the needs of the occupation army of the Russian Federation”
The attack “was carried out by units of the missile forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in cooperation with other components of the Defense Forces of Ukraine,” the General Staff stated.
Lithuania is taking no chances when it comes to Russian forces crossing over from their Kaliningrad enclave.
The Baltic nation “has fortified another bridge over the Nemunas River on the route from the Kaliningrad,” the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Twitter. “Fortifications are progressing as planned, with some bridges set to be demolished. Fortifications will be supported by firepower, in case it’s needed, to stop and destroy the enemy.”
A U.S.-donated Abrams tank is seen in the following video with what is now a standard anti-drone folding shield, Kontak-1 explosive reactive tiles in areas uncovered by the Abrams Reactive Armor (ARAT) armor tiles. It is all part of an upper protection package produced by the Metinvest mining and steel conglomerate.
This Russian T-72 tank equipped with a mine plow plowed through six mines in a row but continued to press on.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s Zvedsda News outlet released video of one of its Zemledeliye remote mine-laying systems in action. Similar in nature to multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), it has two containers that can launch 25 missiles a piece. It can reportedly fire both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines at a distance of up to about 10 miles.
In the latest iteration of drone warfare, Russia has added a so-called anti-drone cope cage to one of its uncrewed ground vehicles.
The MT-LB is a versatile tracked platform that has been frequently adapted. The video below shows one such variant, carrying a 57mm S-60 anti-aircraft cannon.
On Oct 8, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry celebrated the sconed anniversary of the first successful attack on the Kerch Bridge. Vladimir Putin’s prized $4 billion span linking Russia with the Crimean peninsula it occupies was badly damaged by a truck bomb on Oct. 8, 2023. It was damaged again the following July by a drone boat attack.
And finally, a Russian soldier was taken out by an FPV drone during a very personal moment.
That’s it for now.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com