Starting last last year, North Korea sent a total of about 11,000 highly trained troops to fight in Ukraine on behalf of Russia. But after months of being used as cannon fodder for Putin’s war machine, Ukrainian sources say the North Koreans have been pulled off the front lines in recent weeks.
The North Korean troops, sent to bolster Russian forces trying to push back a Ukrainian offensive inside Russia’s borders, have not been seen at the front for about two weeks, the officials said after requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence matters.
The arrival of around 11,000 North Korean troops in Russia in November caused alarm in Ukraine and among its allies in the West, who feared their deployment signaled a significant escalation in the nearly three-year-old war. But in just three months, the North Korean ranks have diminished by…
