Here's an on the ground report from Kursk from MaximTucker on Times Radio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwTPjd20Xt0
And there's an increasing quantity of radio intercepts, captured DPRK troops, drone videos of them.
You've obtained the first uh account by Ukrainian forces of
Close Quarters fighting with noran
troops inside Russia who did you speak
to and where were they I spoke to um the
33rd separate assault Brigade um they're
known as the big cats and they were
fighting in a village called Makhhanova in
the Kursk region um this was actually a
really important strategic battle
because it's a place where if the North
Koreans and the Russians had been able
to take hold of that Village they could
push push onto suja the town that the
largest town that Ukraine has be able to
occupy in Russia and effectively cut off
the Ukraine and Advance deeper into the
kurk region uh recently Ukraine has
reinforced its efforts in kurk and has
attempted to take more territory inside
Kursk again as part of this um attempt
to negoti have a better negotiating
position when it comes to peace talks
with Putin um and if you know some of
those are the best equipped brigades
that they are the the the best um
trained uh units that are pushing
forward into kusk and if they'd been cut
off and the North Koreans had gotone in
behind them then it would have been
really difficult for the ukrainians to
escape from that and you spoke in
particular to leftenant Colonel leopard
um as you write his name being um can
you tell me a little bit more about
about him uh that's his call sign so
he's a senior commander in this um
Battalion um and he is uh coordinating
different units we're using different
advant Technologies it's become a you
know a war of Technology now the
Russians are increasingly using um
firstperson view drones with with
fiberoptic very kind of n thin
fiberoptic cables attached to them so
that they can negate the um the
Ukrainian jamming and that's proving
quite effective and difficult um for the
ukrainians to deal with the so the
Russian the Russian fpv drones have a
fiber optic cable attached to them which
defeats the Ukrainian jamming and so
that's giving the Russians an advantage
in the air um in mnova it was
interesting because the North Koreans
were attacking but they don't seem to
have drone capabilities they're not
equipped to use drones and this
lieutenant colonel was telling me that
in the fighting inside that Village the
ukrainians were able to have the upper
hand because they were in the air above
the North Koreans and the North Koreans
didn't really know how to deal with
these drones the North Koreans were also
walking forwards in single file into
minefields um and you know people were
being taken out by these mines in the
North Koreans would just carry on
marching past them the paramedics
dragging off the battlefield the wounded
off the battlefield it's really
interesting when you talking to to
somebody um of that professionalism how
do they react when they're describing
the way they're seeing the North Koreans
basically being thrown into the field
and allowed to die in that
way well I think you know at this point
in the war three years on a lot of
people like men like him are are very
matter of fact about the nature of of
death and killing it's it's been going
on for so long I mean I think there is
still you know some element of horror
about how needlessly lives are being
thrown away and and surprised still at
that the North Koreans that they're
willing to sacrifice their soldiers in a
in a very alien land which has really
you know very little benefit to them in
doing so um and the the the lack of
concern for the soldiers that the
Russians are commanding is is is clear
and there is is you know some Shock
within the Ukrainian ranks about that
but they're getting increasingly used to
it and this was a mixed unit right of
North Korean and Russian troops what did
you learn about how well trained they
are and how effectively they're working
together so yeah the the North Koreans
are inserted into Russian units and
they're given Russian uniforms Russian
equipment so they can't easily be
identified as North Koreans but
obviously they're speaking different
languages the radio intercepts are are
are making clear that they're North
Koreans and Visually you can see that
some are North Koreans where compared to
ethnic Russians um now they do seem to
be quite well trained troops are
physically fit this is what the the
lieutenant colonel was telling me um and
they're good at kind of Clearing Houses
and establishing positions inside
Villages but they really have no ability
to deal with a modern nature of warfare
they just don't understand that they're
being spied on from the sky at all times
they're still hiding in in tree lines
and not realizing they can be recognized
with thermal imaging cameras um and
they're being taken out quite easily by
drones a result of that and suffering
very he heavy casualties um they also
need to have Russian guides who attached
to them to show them where to go and
help them interpret their surroundings
because it's so different from anything
that they've ever seen in North Korea
and the this unit had captured one of
the Russian guys who was providing a lot
of detailed information to the
ukrainians about how they work together
and why would there be such a efforts to
conceal the fact that they are North
Koreans I think for Putin it's still
quite embarrassing that he has to rely
on another Nation to to defend Russian
borders and they're trying to minimize
the images that get out around the world
and inside Russia for the purposes that
it doesn't suit his propaganda narrative
that he is the guy that guarantees
Russia security um of course inevitably
you know people are starting to be
captured we've seen two North Koreans
captured and paraded on Ukrainian
television um so it is it is getting out
anyway and some of that will probably
start to permeate into Russia that
they're having to rely on North Korea
for their own defense and what have you
learned about the North Korean soldiers
um opting to not be taken
alive so there's probably considerable
pressure on North Koreans not to be
captured because of repercussions for
their families back home and anything
that the the regime pongyang regime
would do to their families if they allow
themselves to be captured alive and then
you know there have been stories about
Russians executing wounded North Koreans
North Korean officers executing their
own wounded soldiers rather than try and
retrieve them or allow them to be
captured um but inevitably the nature of
warfare is such that people get wounded
and surprised and surrounded and there
have been these these two prisoners War
at least so far and I think we can
expect to see more um and it will become
increasingly difficult and ineffective
to use those methods to try and hide the
fact that North Korean troops are
fighting inside Russia and in the case
of this Village which you write write
about mnova what's the situation now and
can you describe how the North Koreans
were
routed so yes so the the North Koreans
had set up three machine gun positions
inside this Village um and they were
trying to control um the area using
these positions and they fortified the
areas and they came in by surprise
flanked the Ukrainian units who weren't
ready for them at the time so the this
33rd separate assault Brigade had to go
in and clear them out in hous to house
fighting um they did do that and
obviously with the help of drones which
the North Koreans weren't using that
gave them um an advantage they also had
tank the ukrainians had tanks um and
armored personnel carriers which they
deployed inside the village and they
were able to to drive out the North
Koreans and hold on to the village now
the fighting in that Village has been
very Fierce over the past couple of days
um you know the lieutenant colonel said
said to me that in two days he saw 120
North Korean Russian troops killed um in
one incident he said he saw um in a
space of four minutes about 50 North
Korean troops killed by drone um so it
was you know very intensive battle and
after that the Russians and North
Koreans seem to have been driven out of
the village and they they are not making
any more attempts to take that Village
um and there had been radio intercepts
from Russian officers suggesting that
the North Koreans are not prepared to go
back and take that try and take that
Village again and at the moment in K on
the ground there isn't that much
movement though as
there there's there's been some movement
of the ukrainians trying to push further
into KK there was reinforcements in in
an effort to do that it hasn't got as
far as the ukrainians would have hoped
but a lot of what is happening there is
still quite unclear um uh the Russians
launched a counter offensive to try and
you know cut off the Ukrainian and put
pressure on the the units that are being
reinforced so there is still a lot of
heavy fighting but yes as ever in this
war it's increasingly difficult to make
territorial gains because as soon as you
come out into the open you're exposed to
drones and you're exposed to artillery
um and it's very very difficult to make
gains in the current environment
especially when it's so cold and we
talked before about the importance of
holding on to at least part of Cur as
leverage for any ceasefire talks that
might take place how aware was the
commander that you spoke to of how his
particular operation fits into the
bigger picture and the
objectives I think when we spoke he he
was tired he had a limited amount of
time because he had to go back to the
front in a few hours time um and he's
really thinking about the The Daily
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